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Built environment, parents' perception, and children's vigorous outdoor play
... Social norms and socio-cultural values regarding children's outdoor playing include parental cultures and restrictions. Many studies have reported that boys spend significantly more time outside playing compared to girls (Bringolf-Isler et al., 2010;Remmers et al. 2014;Faulkner et al. 2015;Moran, Plaut, and Merom 2017;Aggio et al. 2017). This is probably because parents are more cautious with their female children compared to males, as confirmed by Kepper et al. (2020). ...
... However, one study shows that there is no relationship between gender and participation in the various types of recreational activities (Kemperman and Timmermans 2011). The difference in results is likely due to the different cultural settings that dictate the attitudes and beliefs about the types of activities considered appropriate for different sexes, ages, and groups (Yoon and Lee 2019;Bringolf-Isler et al., 2010;Wang et al. 2020). ...
... For instance, high street connectivity, which means more street intersections, is found to be negatively associated with the outdoor playing of children (Aarts et al. 2012;Yoon and Lee 2019). Similarly, increases in the street density in more urbanized areas are inversely associated with the outdoor playing time among younger children (Bringolf-Isler et al., 2010;Wang et al. 2020). Also, the amount of children's outdoor playing decreases when the playing areas and schools are in farther walkable distance of children's homes Kemperman and Timmermans 2011;Faulkner et al. 2015;Bhuyan 2022). ...
Children’s reduced engagement in outdoor playing in recent years has contributed to increasing academic and practice interests in understanding this behavior, as well as investigating the effectiveness of combined social, physical and digital interventions on stimulating children’s outdoor playing. This paper provides a systematic review of recent empirical evidence on the correlates of the outdoor playing behavior of children, ages 4–12. In addition, the potential roles of digital interventions in stimulating children’s outdoor playing are explored. The COM-B behavior change model is used to establish relevant correlates and functions of digital interventions. COM-B model defines behavior as the result of an interaction between three components: capability, opportunity and motivation. This model provides a basis for designing effective behavior change interventions. This paper’s contribution is twofold: it presents the case for adding ‘digital environment’ as a new component of the COM-B model, and it further develops a conceptual framework of different functions of digital interventions aiming at stimulating children’s outdoor playing behavior. The findings contribute to the theory-based behavior change interventions stimulating children’s outdoor playing.
... Bringolf-Isler, Grize [37]; Switzerland 1081; 49% (children), 54% (adolescents); 6-7 y, 9-10 y, 13-14 y ...
... Overall, findings showed evidence to support relationships between activity behaviors and street connectivity [36,41,42,47,51,56,58,66], with differential relationships observed by age and sex [38,44], and one study showing a negative relationship in females only [34]. Similarly, generally consistent positive relationships between activity and residential density were found [15,41,42,47,50,52,61,66], with the exception of two studies [15,37], one of which examined the proportion of child population in relation to active school travel [15]. Diversity in land use was positively related to physical activity [34,66], and both the density of entertainment facilities [41] and public transit (school-aged girls only) [38] were all positively related with activity behaviors. ...
... The density of main streets (exemplifying less safe traffic environments) was negatively related to activity behaviors in one study [37], and another showed positive relationships for traffic safety infrastructure, with differential findings observed for the time of day and population group (i.e., traffic/pedestrian lights were significant in younger girls only, slow points significant for younger boys before school, and speed humps significant in adolescent boys after school [44]). ...
Regular participation in physical activity is essential for children’s physical, mental, and cognitive health. Neighborhood environments may be especially important for children who are more likely to spend time in the environment proximal to home. This article provides an update of evidence for associations between children’s physical activity behaviors and objectively assessed environmental characteristics derived using geographical information system (GIS)-based approaches. A systematic scoping review yielded 36 relevant articles of varying study quality. Most studies were conducted in the USA. Findings highlight the need for neighborhoods that are well connected, have higher population densities, and have a variety of destinations in the proximal neighborhood to support children’s physical activity behaviors. A shorter distance to school and safe traffic environments were significant factors in supporting children’s active travel behaviors. Areas for improvement in the field include the consideration of neighborhood self-selection bias, including more diverse population groups, ground-truthing GIS databases, utilising data-driven approaches to derive environmental indices, and improving the temporal alignment of GIS datasets with behavioral outcomes.
... Une étude a pu montrer que la perception qu'ont les parents de l'environnement influence plus le comportement des enfants que l'environnement lui-même (Bringolf-Isler et al., 2010). Le lien entre la perception de l'environnement et l'autorisation que les parents vont accorder aux enfants pour se déplacer de façon active ressort comme étant le plus significatif et le mieux démontré. ...
... Non seulement, les parents prennent-ils des décisions en fonction des caractéristiques de leurs enfants, mais ils réagissent en fonction de l'environnement physique de leur quartier (Cordelier et al., 2014a). Par exemple, la présence d'une rue à faible densité de circulation, de limitations de vitesse, de bandes cyclables ou piétonnes et même d'espaces verts (parcs), favorise le déplacement vers l'école à pied ou à vélo (Bringolf-Isler et al., 2010;Nevelsteen et al., 2012;Sarkar, 2003). D'autres travaux, par exemple ceux de Gielen et al. (2004), ont par ailleurs démontré que l'insécurité routière des parents est plus grande dans les quartiers plus défavorisés et moins équipés sur le plan urbanistique. ...
... Toutefois, la perception que les parents ont de l'environnement joue un rôle plus important que l'environnement lui-même quant à l'encouragement du déplacement actif et autonome (Bringolf-Isler et al., 2010). En effet, peu importe les composantes objectives de l'environnement, sécurisantes ou non, la perception qu'en ont les parents prédomine sur la réalité quelle qu'elle soit. ...
Rapport de recherche préparé pour le Ministère des transports, de la Mobilité durable et de l’Électrification des transports (Québec).
Programme de recherche en sécurité routière FQRNT-MTQ-FRSQ
Dossier : 2013-SO-170806 :
« La sécurité aux abords des écoles et des terrains de jeu : évaluation des
interventions récentes et élaboration d’outils pour une promotion
effective du transport actif chez les enfants ».
... Others have linked urban neighborhoods with increased amenities for youth, greater neighborhood walkability [62], as well as higher levels of physical activity and less time in sedentary activities among youth [63]. In contrast, Aarts et al. [34] found that living in an urban city center was negatively associated with outdoor play for boys 7 to 9 years old; Bringolf-Isler et al. [64] found outdoor play was inversely associated with the street density inherent in more urbanized areas. ...
... While evidence to date generally confirms that increasing age affords young people increased freedom and independent mobility, studies have also found that age is inversely associated with outdoor play and time outside [64,65]. Age has also been positively correlated with screen time and media usage [21,66], which has been associated with increased sedentary activities and less time spent outdoors [30,67]. ...
... Some studies have suggested that the decline in outdoor play seen in older children and adolescents may be associated with individual-level factors such as lower perceived enjoyment from outdoor play or social-level factors like peer support and peer perceptions of outdoor play [68,69]. Lack of outdoor time in older children has also been linked to increased school and academic engagements, increased screen device use, spending more time with peers indoors, and time mismanagement [64,69]. ...
Outdoor play and independent, neighborhood activity, both linked with healthy childhood development, have declined dramatically among Western children in recent decades. This study examines how social, cultural and environmental factors may be hindering children’s outdoor and community-based play. A comprehensive survey was completed by 826 children (aged 10–13 years) and their parents from 12 schools (four each urban, suburban and rural) from a large county in Ontario, Canada. Five multilevel regression models, controlling for any school clustering effect, examined associations between outdoor play time per week and variable sets representing five prevalent factors cited in the literature as influencing children’s outdoor play (OP). Models predicted that younger children and boys were more likely to spend time playing outdoors; involvement in organized physical activities, other children nearby to play with, higher perception of benefits of outdoor play, and higher parental perceptions of neighborhood social cohesion also predicted more time in outdoor play. Time outdoors was less likely among children not allowed to play beyond home without supervision, felt they were ‘too busy’ with screen-based activities, and who reported higher fears related to playing outdoors. Study findings have important implications for targeting environmental, cultural and policy changes to foster child-friendly communities which effectively support healthy outdoor play.
... Specifically, being part of a dominant racial/ethnic group (e.g., white/Caucasian in Western countries [38,57,67,68,74,83,85,93,123,128,130], Chinese ethnicity in China [89]), planning skills [31], and perceived sport competence [31] were positively associated with outdoor play. In addition, child autonomy [111] and independence [126], independent mobility [99,104], child-initiation [45], overall physical activity [51,104], regular play [44], outdoor play in the past [31], and tummy time frequency in the past [130] were positively associated with outdoor play. In addition, opposing view (i.e., cons) towards sport participation (e.g., if I participate in sports it will cost me too much time) [31], sedentary time [132], time spent eating lunch [66], Mediterranean diet [92], and having surgency/ extraversion and negative affectivity temperament [115] were also positively associated with outdoor play. ...
... Briefly, parent being part of the dominant racial/ ethnic group [50,118], having the dominant nationality [130], parents holding positive attitude towards outdoors/outdoor activities [69,112,132], being informed about playing with child [130], ascribing importance to child's outdoor play [32], parental engagement in different types of physical activities [114,116,118,124,130] and modelling [61,110], parental habit strength [111], and parental support [61,67,92,102,110,111,122,129] were positively associated with outdoor play. On the other hand, having immigrated [74] or higher educated parents [32,33,37,38,100,118,132], having higher educated [44,59,92,96,124,127] or working mother [62,82,118], number of cars at home [132], having a mother with depression [62,68], hyper-parenting [76], constraint parenting [81], family holding positive attitude towards outdoor play [111], parent's intention to improve outdoor play [111], parental concerns towards outdoor play [62] or physical activity [112] were negatively associated with children's outdoor play. One study examined parental correlates of outdoor play during COVID-19 [135] and found that being encouraged to have adequate sleep was also negatively associated with outdoor play while parental support, particularly co-participation and encouragement, was positively associated with outdoor play among children. ...
... The correlates that were consistently not associated with outdoor play (" ∅∅ ") included weight status [66,84,97,104,111,113,117,119], health status [66,69,82,96], screen time/exposure [34,118,121,129], father's education [66,78,89,96,97,127], SES/household income [60,67,73,75,83,90,99,102,119,121,137], parental marital status or cohabitation [66,82,118,122], family composition [61,78,92,97,120], duration of residency in their current neighborhood [62,82,122], attendance to ECEC [44,62,66,82,120], pedestrian crossing with or without traffic lights [33], social aspects of the playground environment (e.g., group size, presence of active children, presence of children and adults by sex) [109], and rurality [32,33,61,78,89,99,125]. Table 3 presents potential correlates of outdoor time examined ("Factors within SEM examined"), statistically significant correlates identified ("Association"), and the direction/strength of evidence ("Consistency of evidence"), classified by different levels of SEM (e.g., "INDI-VIDUAL") and their sub-categories (e.g., "Age", "Sex/ gender"). The overarching summary of evidence were also provided by sub-categories of SEM ("Summary of evidence"). ...
Background: Due to the myriad of benefits of children’s outdoor play and time, there is increasing concern over its decline. This systematic review synthesized evidence on the correlates of outdoor play and outdoor time among children aged 3-12 years.
Methods: A total of 12 electronic databases in five different languages (Chinese, English, Korean, Spanish, Portuguese) were searched between October 28, 2019 and July 27, 2020. Covidence software was used for screening and Microsoft Excel with a predesigned coding form was used for data extraction. Evidence was synthesized and correlates were categorized using the socioecological model framework.
Results: Based on 107 studies representing 188,498 participants and 422 childcare centers from 29 countries, 85 studies examined potential correlates of outdoor play while 23 studies examined that of outdoor time (one examined both). The duration of outdoor play and outdoor time ranged between 60 and 165 min/d and 42-240 min/d, respectively. Out of 287 (outdoor play) and 61 (outdoor time) potential correlates examined, 111 correlates for outdoor play and 33 correlates for outdoor time were identified as significant correlates. Thirty-three variables were identified as key/common correlates of outdoor play/time, including eight correlates at the individual level (e.g., sex/gender, race/ethnicity, physical activity), 10 correlates at the parental level (e.g., parental attitude/support/behavior, parenting practice), nine at the microsystem level (e.g., proximal home/social environment such as residence type, peer influence), three at the macrosystem/community level (e.g., availability of space children can play), and three at the physical ecology/pressure for macrosystem change level (e.g., seasonality, rurality). No key correlates were found at the institutional level.
Conclusions: Individual, parental, and proximal physical (home) and social environments appear to play a role in children’s outdoor play and time. Ecological factors (i.e., seasonality, rurality) also appear to be related to outdoor play/time. Evidence was either inconsistent or lacking at institutional and macrosystem/community levels. Standardizing terminology and measures of outdoor play/time is warranted. Future work should investigate the interactions and processes of multiple variables across different levels of socioecological modelling to better understand the mechanisms through which outdoor play/time opportunities can be optimized for children while paying special attention to varying conditions in which children are born, live, and play.
... This framework does not incorporate child-specific considerations, yet increasing research with children highlights specific influences on child development [34]. Neighbourhood characteristics, both subjectively perceived by families and objectively measured by researchers, have been shown to impact children's and adolescents' access to outdoor play [35][36][37]. Previous systematic reviews have examined the relationship between the neighbourhood environment and physical activity occurring outdoors among youth [38,39]; however, a synthesis looking at exclusively outdoor play is lacking. ...
... As shown in Table 1, studies were conducted in the United States (6), the Netherlands (5) [35,41,45,51,52,56,57], hospitals (3) [37,53,54], daycare centres or reschools (2) [47,55], school health providers (2) [36,55], advertisements and posters (2) [49,54], commercial address providers (2) [28,50] or a government program (1) [48]. Two studies used a combination of these methods [54,55]. ...
... The "Outdoor Playtime Checklist" [26] was employed by two studies [47,55], and ten studies used other validated methodologies [35,37,[48][49][50]52,54,56,57]. Six studies used methodologies that have not yet been validated to evaluate outdoor play [28,36,41,45,46,53]. The neighbourhood built environment was evaluated by parent questionnaire (10) [28,35,36,49,50,[52][53][54]56,57], research-team audits (6) [35,37,45,46,51,55], satellite image analysis (2) [36,47], database analysis (1) [37], child questionnaire (2) [41,48], census data (1) [37], with some studies using two of these methods [35][36][37]. ...
Outdoor play has been associated with children’s and adolescents’ healthy development and physical activity. Attributes of the neighbourhood built environment can influence play behaviours. This systematic review examined the relationship between attributes of the neighbourhood built environment and the time children and adolescents (0–18 years) spend in self-directed outdoor play. We identified and evaluated 18 relevant papers using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool and developed a narrative synthesis of study results. We found moderate evidence that lower traffic volumes (ages 6–11), yard access (ages 3–10), and increased neighbourhood greenness (ages 2–15) were positively associated with time spent in outdoor play, as well as limited evidence that specific traffic-calming street features such as fewer intersections, low traffic speeds, neighbourhood disorder, and low residential density were positively associated with time spent in outdoor play. To our knowledge, this is the first systematic review on this topic. The limited number of “good quality” studies identified highlights the need for additional research on the topic.
... The study quality was rated high in 11 [27,48,[56][57][58][63][64][65][66][67]69] and fair in 10 [5,23,26,55,[59][60][61][62]68,70] studies. The more detailed quality assessment for each study is presented in the Supplementary material Table S3. ...
... However, no study undertook measures to address specific groups of non-responders. Simply eight studies acquired a response rate of at least 60% [5,48,56,58,59,63,66,67]. Additionally, in three publications results were not reported by the authors or they were shortly mentioned elsewhere in the results section but not presented in tables [26,62,70]. ...
... Moreover, outdoor play was measured by focusing on different aspects. Some researchers assessed outdoor play duration in questionnaires for different intensities (e.g., quiet, moderate and vigorous outdoor play) and summed up the durations [59] while others merely inquired over duration of children's overall outdoor play [23,52,56,58,64]. Furthermore, in other studies outdoor play was captured by asking parents how long their child played in different locations (e.g., the yard in someone else's home, the street or cul-de-sac the home was on, parks, and playgrounds outside of school hours) [27,62]. ...
Outdoor play is one major source of physical activity (PA) in children. In particular, parents act as gatekeepers, because they can enable their children's outdoor play. This systematic review aims to provide an overview of parental correlates of outdoor play. A systematic literature research of six electronic databases (ERIC, PsycARTICLES, PsycINFO, PubMed/Medline, SCOPUS, and Web of Science Core Collection) was conducted with previously defined search terms, focusing on children 0-12 years old. In total, 1719 potentially publications were screened based on eligibility criteria. Included studies were scored for overall study quality. Findings were summarized using a semi-quantitative method. Twenty-one peer-reviewed publications which examined the relationship of parental correlates and outdoor play were included. Overall, five parental correlates were associated with children's amount of outdoor play: mothers' ethnicity, mothers' employment status, parents' education level, the importance parents assign to outdoor play, and perceived social cohesion in the neighborhood. Merely four studies reported sex/gender-stratified results. In summary, only parents' encouragement/support provided evidence for girls' amount of outdoor play. The findings are considered to be of public health relevance for developing intervention programs to increase outdoor play and for improving child's health. More research, especially considering sex/gender of the child, is required.
... Bringolf-Isler (2014) reviewed the current state of the art and stated that factors from the following four categories were relevant for activity friendliness: access to activity and to recreational destinations, spatial planning, traffic and road safety and the social environment. In particular, access to parks, playgrounds and sports grounds were identified as factors influencing children's activity levels (Bringolf-Isler et al. 2010;Buck et al. 2011;Davison and Lawson 2006;Timperio et al. 2004;Veitch et al. 2006) as well as the availability of private gardens and courtyards (Gose et al. 2013;Veitch et al. 2006). Spatial planning factors have been discussed controversially: while mixed land use is classed as being friendly for walking (Bringolf-Isler et al. 2010;Rahman et al. 2011), population density merely shows a weak relationship with physical activity (Davison and Lawson 2006;Ding et al. 2011) whereas a high intersection density is shown in some studies to have either a positive effect, representing a high connectivity, or negative effect on walking behavior, associated with a high traffic density (Bringolf-Isler et al. 2010;Holt et al. 2008;Spence et al. 2008;Veitch et al. 2006). ...
... In particular, access to parks, playgrounds and sports grounds were identified as factors influencing children's activity levels (Bringolf-Isler et al. 2010;Buck et al. 2011;Davison and Lawson 2006;Timperio et al. 2004;Veitch et al. 2006) as well as the availability of private gardens and courtyards (Gose et al. 2013;Veitch et al. 2006). Spatial planning factors have been discussed controversially: while mixed land use is classed as being friendly for walking (Bringolf-Isler et al. 2010;Rahman et al. 2011), population density merely shows a weak relationship with physical activity (Davison and Lawson 2006;Ding et al. 2011) whereas a high intersection density is shown in some studies to have either a positive effect, representing a high connectivity, or negative effect on walking behavior, associated with a high traffic density (Bringolf-Isler et al. 2010;Holt et al. 2008;Spence et al. 2008;Veitch et al. 2006). Factors related to traffic range from the presence of pavements (Dessing et al. 2016;Rahman et al. 2011), the absence of main roads (Babb et al. 2011;Davison and Lawson 2006;Veitch et al. 2006), a low traffic density (Bringolf-Isler et al. 2010;Ding et al. 2011;Gose et al. 2013) to parents perception of road safety (Rahman et al. 2011). ...
... In particular, access to parks, playgrounds and sports grounds were identified as factors influencing children's activity levels (Bringolf-Isler et al. 2010;Buck et al. 2011;Davison and Lawson 2006;Timperio et al. 2004;Veitch et al. 2006) as well as the availability of private gardens and courtyards (Gose et al. 2013;Veitch et al. 2006). Spatial planning factors have been discussed controversially: while mixed land use is classed as being friendly for walking (Bringolf-Isler et al. 2010;Rahman et al. 2011), population density merely shows a weak relationship with physical activity (Davison and Lawson 2006;Ding et al. 2011) whereas a high intersection density is shown in some studies to have either a positive effect, representing a high connectivity, or negative effect on walking behavior, associated with a high traffic density (Bringolf-Isler et al. 2010;Holt et al. 2008;Spence et al. 2008;Veitch et al. 2006). Factors related to traffic range from the presence of pavements (Dessing et al. 2016;Rahman et al. 2011), the absence of main roads (Babb et al. 2011;Davison and Lawson 2006;Veitch et al. 2006), a low traffic density (Bringolf-Isler et al. 2010;Ding et al. 2011;Gose et al. 2013) to parents perception of road safety (Rahman et al. 2011). ...
The physical environment strongly influences physical activity in urban settings. While walkability is frequently assessed for adults, an approach for mapping the friendliness of urban environments focusing on children's activities is not available. The aim of the presented approach was to identify supporting and limiting factors of activity friendliness in urban environments and incorporate them into a children's physical activity index (CAI). We conducted qualitative guided interviews with nine-to ten-year-old children and parents of primary school children in Berlin to identify the factors and their importance for describing activity friendliness. Access to activity and recreational destinations, land use, traffic and road safety, and the social environment were the most prominent factors identified for the activity friendliness for children. The newly developed CAI enables a differentiation in the activity friendliness of urban neighborhoods for children.
... Parent-reported play or park use was found to be associated with the presence of walking facilities [44], street quality [64], the presence of pedestrian amenities with fewer path obstructions [65], and pavement availability, which can serve as informal play areas [66]. Similarly, parent-reported outdoor play or park use was positively associated with the presence of traffic calming features such as pedestrian crossings with and without traffic lights [66], parental perceived traffic safety [67], perceived personal safety [53,68], and, in the unexpected direction, with less walkability for children in Mexico [65]. ...
... Reductions in parent-reported play were associated with increased intersection density [67,68]. ...
Although the built environment (BE) is important for children’s health, there is little consensus about which features are most important due to differences in measurement and outcomes across disciplines. This meta-narrative review was undertaken by a multi-disciplinary team of researchers to summarise ways in which the BE is measured, and how this links to children’s health. A structured search of four databases across the relevant disciplines retrieved 108 relevant references. The most commonly addressed health-related outcomes were active travel, physical activity and play, and obesity. Many studies used objective (GIS and street audits) or standardised subjective (perceived) measurements of the BE. However, there was a wide variety, and sometimes inconsistency, in their definition and use. There were clear associations between the BE and children’s health. Objective physical activity and self-reported active travel, or obesity, were positively associated with higher street connectivity or walkability measures, while self-reported physical activity and play had the strongest association with reduced street connectivity, indicated by quieter, one-way streets. Despite the high heterogeneity found in BE measures and health outcomes, the meta-narrative approach enabled us to identify ten BE categories that are likely to support children’s health and be protective against some non-communicable disease risk factors. Future research should implement consistent BE measures to ensure key features are explored. A systems approach will be particularly relevant for addressing place-based health inequalities, given potential unintended health consequences of making changes to the BE.
... Parental preferences play an important role in children's physical activity and park visits (Bringolf-Isler et al., 2010;Tucker et al., 2011). Our study identified parental preferences for park attributes and examined what differences existed across racial/ethnic groups for our sample. ...
... The overall preferences we identified align with other research findings on parent preferences (Boxberger & Reimers, 2019;Bringolf-Isler et al., 2010;Faulkner et al., 2015), with our results highlighting the preferences of urban, lower-income, minority parents and caregivers. The most common preference, physical attributes, captured specific facilities like playgrounds or swings that are typical settings for outdoor play and physical activity. ...
Public parks offer free and easy to access spaces for outdoor recreation, which is essential for children’s outdoor play and physical activity in low-income communities. Because parks and playgrounds contribute to children’s physical, social, and emotional development, it is critical to understand what makes them attractive and welcoming for families with young children. Parents can be a key determinant to children visiting parks, with their preferences influencing whether or not families visit parks in their neighborhoods. Past studies have posited there are significant differences across racial/ethnic populations in preferred park characteristics, but few have investigated specific park attributes parents from different racial and ethnic groups desire for their children. This study examined attributes associated with parental preferences for parks in low-income diverse communities in New York City, New York and Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, USA. Parents’ responses were grouped into 10 categories using content analysis, with four key preference themes identified: physical attributes, experiences, social environment, and amenities. Physical attributes (i.e., playgrounds, sports fields, green spaces) were most desired among all groups. A significant difference across race/ethnic groups was found in New York but not in Raleigh-Durham. In New York, Latino parents had a strong preference for experience attributes (i.e. safety, safe facilities, cleanliness) which differed from other groups. Examining Latino parents in both cities we found no significant difference between cities. Although there is no one-size-fits-all approach to encourage park use, our finding suggests facilities and park safety are modifiable ways local government agencies could design and maintain parks that would be preferred by parents for their children. Future research should examine how neighborhood context may influence parent preferences related to parks. Parents’ responses were grouped into 10 categories using content analysis, with four key preference themes identified. A significant difference across race/ethnic groups was found in New York but not in Raleigh-Durham. Examining Latino parents in both cities we found no significant difference between cities. Physical attributes (i.e., playgrounds, sports fields, green spaces) were most desired among all groups. In New York, Latino parents had a strong preference for Experience attributes (i.e. safety, safe facilities, cleanliness) which differed from other groups. Future research should examine how neighborhood context may influence parent preferences related to parks and children’s physical activity.
... For home neighborhood delineations, buffer distances of between 100 m (Euclidean) (Bringolf-Isler et al., 2010) and 5 km (Euclidean, pedestrian network) (Nordbø et al., 2019;Carver et al., 2015) around the home were observed. This range for school neighborhoods was between 400 m (Jauregui et al., 2016) to 5 km (Mecredy et al., 2011) Euclidean buffers from the school. ...
... In age-stratified analyses, Bringolf-Isler et al. (2010) noted significant and comparable results in relationships between 100 m, 200 m, or 500 m home neighborhood environments (Euclidean) and vigorous outdoor play in children aged 6-10 years. For adolescents aged 13-14 years, no significant associations were observed at any of these buffer sizes. ...
This study aimed to systematically identify, map out, and describe geographical information systems (GIS)-based approaches that have been employed to measure children's neighborhood geographies for physical activity behaviors. Forty studies were included, most were conducted in the USA. Heterogeneity in GIS methods and measures was found. The majority of studies estimated children's environments using Euclidean or network buffers ranging from 100 m to 5 km. No singular approach to measuring children's physical activity geographies was identified as optimal. Geographic diversity in studies as well as increased use of measures of actual neighborhood exposure are needed. Improved consistency and transparency in reporting research methods is urgently required.
... According to Davison & Lawson, 2006 one cannot assume that associations between the physical environment and physical activity among adults are applicable to children. Children's physical activity consists generally of short intermittent bouts resulting from unstructured play rather than organised sports (Bringolf-Isler et al. 2010). Children play anywhere and everywhere, often venturing to places where their environmental needs have seldom been recognised (Matthews & Limb 1999). ...
... According to there is evidence to suggest that the time children spent outdoors is a strong determinant of overall children's health. Perceptions of the neighbourhood environment are also important determinants (Alton et al. 2007) particularly a fear and dislike of local environments (Lorenc et al. 2008) and parents perceptions of the local environment (Bringolf-Isler et al. 2010). A sense of community and belonging within the places where people live, work, and travel, is an influential determinant of mental and physical health (Dahl & Malmberg-Heimonen 2010). ...
There is a worldwide concern about increasing non-communicable diseases such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, asthma and depression related to obesity in urban population. The built environment has an important role to support human health. Characteristics of the built environment can be modified to influence and facilitate or hinder public health. The rapid development of major towns and cities in developing countries producing urban sprawl, lower densities, environmental pollution, inconvenience and unsafe public spaces as well as transportation infrastructure that encourages car ridership over active transportation has altered the built environment in ways which effect health negatively. Urbanization in developing and less developed countries, therefore, is linked to rising obesity and incidence of metabolic syndrome. For instance the Malaysian Ministry of Health states that just over a quarter of Malaysian school children were obese and overweight and have the tendency to become obese adults. This research will outline and identify the significant variables concerning the built environment and childhood obesity by examining previous literature studies. There are three major aspects where urban planning and design can most effectively influence childhood obesity, namely, physical activity, community interaction and healthy eating. These three aspects address the principle risk factors for contemporary non-communicable diseases. Hence, the current research will focus on the three mentioned aspects as the keywords to extract the relative factors and indicators associated to built environment and childhood obesity. As the final outcome this research will construct a conceptual framework to serve as a basis for developing a public health-oriented built environment with focus on childhood obesity.
... Interestingly, having less than 1 h OA becomes more common when children age from 11 to 17 years old (Figure 2), whereas the opposite trend is found in children age 6-10 years. Children spend more time outdoors before puberty onset [29,30], and the decreased activity after age 11 years may be related to the increasing academic burden that limits time for OA [29]. We found that boys had more OA than girls (Table 1), which is also in accordance with previous research [30]. ...
... Interestingly, having less than 1 h OA becomes more common when children age from 11 to 17 years old (Figure 2), whereas the opposite trend is found in children age 6-10 years. Children spend more time outdoors before puberty onset [29,30], and the decreased activity after age 11 years may be related to the increasing academic burden that limits time for OA [29]. We found that boys had more OA than girls (Table 1), which is also in accordance with previous research [30]. ...
BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between outdoor activity (OA) and insufficient sleep duration (ISD) among Chinese children and to assess the potential age- and gender-specific effects. MATERIAL AND METHODS A national sample of 62 517 children aged 6-17 years were recruited from 7 provinces of China in the autumn of 2013. Children and their caregivers reported daily sleep duration (<7 h, 7-9 h and ≥9 h), daily OA time (<1 h, 1-2 h, and ≥2 h), and other behavior and demographic information by standardized questionnaire. ISD was defined as <9 h/day. Logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the relationship between ISD and OA. RESULTS In total, 46 639 children (50.9% boys) completed this survey. The prevalence of ISD was 74.9% (73.7% in boys and 76.1% in girls). Stratified by age, compared with <1 h OA, the odds ratios for ISD were 0.67 (95% confidence interval: 0.62-0.72, aged 6-13 years) and 0.69 (0.49-0.98, 14-17 years) in the ≥2 h OA group; 0.91 (0.85-0.97, 6-13 years) and 0.73 (0.54-0.97, 14-17 years) in the 1-2 h OA group. Further stratified by gender, we found similar trends for both boys and girls in each age group, although some results became non-significant. CONCLUSIONS Adequate OA time per day is associated with decreased risks for ISD among children aged 6-17 years, but age and gender can modify the association.
... 36 Six studies examined the relationship between traffic safety and PA. 33,35,41,45,56,64 One showed that children with higher levels of walking were more likely to perceive streets as unsafe, 33 Linear mixed-effects models ...
... Alton (2007) Linear mixed models showed that the level of safe walking had no connection with children's PA. 41 Three studies showed that more traffic safety was associated with more activity, 35,45,64 and one showed that higher injury rates were associated with lower activity counts. 56 Another study suggested that exposure to traffic-related air pollutants was associated with an increased consumption of trans-fat and fast foods among adolescents, and children in noisier neighborhoods rated higher in perceived stress symptoms, with diminished motivation for a given task among girls. ...
A growing body of research links traffic‐related environmental factors to childhood obesity; however, the evidence is still inconclusive. This review aims to fill this important research gap by systematically reviewing existing research on the relationship between traffic‐related environmental factors and childhood obesity. Based on the inclusion criteria, 39 studies are selected with environmental factors of interest, including traffic flow, traffic pollution, traffic noise, and traffic safety. Weight‐related behaviours include active travel/transport, physical activity (PA), and intake of a high trans‐fat diet or stress symptoms; weight‐related outcomes are mainly body mass index (BMI) or BMI z‐scores and overweight/obesity. Of 16 studies of weight‐related behaviours, significant associations are reported in 11 out of 12 studies on traffic flow (two positively and nine negatively associated with PA), five out of six studies on traffic safety (four positively and one negatively associated with PA), one study on traffic pollution (positively with unhealthy food consumption), and one study on traffic noise (negatively associated with PA). Among 23 studies of weight‐related outcomes, significant associations are reported in six out of 14 studies on traffic flow (five positively and one negatively associated with obesity outcome), seven out of 10 studies on traffic pollution (all positively associated with obesity outcome), and two out of five on traffic noise (all positively associated with obesity outcome). Our findings show that long‐term traffic pollution is weakly positively associated with children's BMI growth, and traffic flow, pollution, and noise could affect weight‐related behaviours. Associations between traffic density and noise and weight status are rather inconclusive.
... One such impact is commonly known as the "barrier effect" whereby parents restrict children's independent mobility because of traffic. This restriction likely reduces the child's overall physical activity (e.g., (Schoeppe et al., 2013), and may result in reduced accessibility to friends and play areas (e.g. ( Bringolf-Isler et al., 2010;Davison and Lawson, 2006). ...
... For example, disaggregated land use planning particularly in the newer suburban locations, school siting requirements and a more recent focus on large "magnet schools" instead of smaller neighbourhood schools have increased school travel distance for many children (Mitra, 2013;Yang et al., 2012). But even where the average school travel distance has not changed significantly over time, over-protective parents may often perceive small distances as potentially non-walkable ( Grize et al., 2010;Mitra et al., 2016). For example, Mitra et al (2016) reported that walking rates for school transportation declined in Toronto, Canada, between 1986 and2006, even for distances as low as 0.8 km (roughly half-a-mile). ...
... At the significance level of 0.05, the intersection environment and sidewalk greening had positive effects on children's retreat behavior. The number of intersections and road connectivity have a negative impact on children's outdoor activities [21]. ...
The use of urban space by vulnerable groups, especially ASD children with social anxiety, is an important part of building sustainable urban development. In this study, we focus on the play behavior of ASD children from the perspective of urban planning; then, we discussed how the urban built environmental factors affect the social behavior of ASD children. In this paper, 220 parents of ASD children were given questionnaires and 197 valid questionnaires were obtained after removing invalid ones. Stepwise regression was adopted to further accurately analyze the influence of each factor index in the built environment on children’s social behavior. The results showed that multiple urban built environment factors had significant influence on the social behaviors (observation, participation, retreat, and concealment) of children with autism at three stages: before departure, during journey, and arrived at destination. The purpose of study is to fully consider the use of urban space by ASD children when urban researchers or urban planners construct sustainable urban forms, formulate urban design guidelines, and implement old city renewal strategies.
... Studies have tried to answer the question of 'what factors affect physical activity?' and 'how and to what extent potential factors matter?' Among potential candidates, both individual characteristics and neighborhood attributes are influential factors for physical activity [9][10][11]. This indicates that the interplay of human behavior and the built environment is essential in this mechanism [12,13]. ...
Previous studies highlight the role of walkable neighborhoods in improving the health status of residents, hypothesizing that there is a strong relationship between the built environment and individual physical activity. However, unlike theoretical prediction, the evidence is less established that residents in inner cities engage in more physical activity than residents in suburban areas. To address this gap between theoretical prediction and empirical evidence in physical activity studies, this paper investigates the links between the built environment and outdoor leisure activities under the individual time constraint. We conducted path analysis, employing the samples of Los Angeles County in NHTS (National Household Travel Survey, 2008–2009). Empirical results revealed that individual time constraints have a significant negative effect on leisure time spent in outdoors, but the influence was marginal. Surprisingly, the access to local resource (e.g., park area) still matters even after time constraints are controlled for. Regarding the effects of other covariates, safety (perceived), attitude, and disability showed the largest association with outdoor leisure activities amongst the independent variables with the expected sign. Based on these results, this study not only confirms that the lack of time plays a role as a barrier of the outdoor leisure activity, but also proves that park area can be considered as a facilitator. However, the behavioral decision for outdoor leisure activities is about more than time constraints and the built environment since the effects of both are much smaller than other key covariates.
... Moreover, with increasing urbanisation children have fewer opportunities to experience plants and animals in their immediate environment, to discover the diversity of species, and to bond with nature (Louv, 2006;. In addition, children today spend more time indoors than outdoors, either due to parental concern about traffic dangers (Bringolf-Isler et al., 2010;Prezza et al., 2005) or due to increased media consumption. In the U.S.A., for instance, children's media consumption increased within five years by more than 1 h to 7 h per day (Rideout et al., 2010). ...
This study asked 241 primary children and their 13 teachers in the Canton of Berne, Switzerland, to identify 136 local plant and animal species, which were shown to them as pictures. Children's age, gender, and experiences with nature were recorded to test for associations with species knowledge. Teachers identified 52% of the plants and 61% of the animals, while their pupils only knew 17% and 41% of the species, respectively (class means). Plants with bright flowers like dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), edible fruits like strawberry (Fragaria vesca) or harmful ones like stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) were most identified correctly. Among the animals, charismatic mammals such as fox (Vulpes vulpes) and hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus), but also insects like bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) were best known. However, many common bird species such as chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs) were largely unknown. Boys identified more animal species correctly than did girls. Contact with living beings, a green environment and support by family members fostered species knowledge of children, while their school education was rather insignificant.
... For example, a study of preschool children in the United States showed that parental perceptions of neighborhood safety affected times children spent watching electronic screens, instead of their outdoor activity (Burdette and Whitaker,2005). However, other studies provide strong support for the existence of a meaningful relationship between parental perceptions of safety and children's physical activity levels (Bringolf-Isler et al.,2008;Bringolf-Isler et al.,2010). The finding reahch no consensus in the current study and deserved the attention of subsequent studies. ...
... One reason for the decline in nature experiences is fear of the parents. Parents are concerned about traffic danger, injuries or violence and therefore keep children increasingly at home (Bringolf-Isler et al., 2010;Prezza et al., 2005;Tandon et al., 2012). Children also like to stay at home as this allows them to watch television or play electronic/video games (Charles & Louv, 2009;Clements, 2004;Mullan, 2019;Rideout et al., 2010). ...
This study investigated with the help of in-depth interviews and a think-aloud-approach how 10-to12-year-old children (n = 46) in the Canton of Berne, Switzerland, get to know species, how they identify plants and animals, and for how important they consider species knowledge to be. Own observations and sensual experiences coupled with positive emotions were most prominent when children encountered plants and animals for the first time. Family members helped most in getting to know species, and were more needed in case of plants. When de-scribing plants, children focused less on flower or flower color than on other characteristic traits. In case of animals, special attention was paid on the body, i.e., its size, form and color. Mean knowledge of animals and mean number of traits mentioned per class was positively re-lated. Children considered species knowledge important for utilitarian reasons and because they thought it part of a general education.
... A study conducted at an orphanage for 6-to 11-year-old kids suggests that parents' awareness of crime prevention influences their children's activities. Further, Bringolf-Isler et al. (2010) also reported that parents' concerns about traffic and safety affected their children's outdoor playtime at elementary schools. ...
The birthrate in Japan is declining rapidly, which is attributed to the lack of perspective and consideration for “child-rearing” in the architecture of cities. Therefore, to gain knowledge of the measures to support child-rearing, determining factors such as how urban space is used is essential. In this study, Japanese parents were requested to send pictures of their surrounding environment. The survey used the caption evaluation method to target naturally low-rise residential, planned residential, and mixed areas. On evaluation of the photographs, we found no regional differences in terms of safety and convenience. Despite the space created for walking, the parents actively enjoyed playing with the children. In the naturally low-rise residential areas, parents could select various routes. Conversely, the planned housing complexes did not have a wide choice of routes, limiting the play area. Therefore, a policy that incorporates this perspective is also necessary to improve the urban environment and consider the differences in each region to create an environment conducive to child-rearing.
... An additional source of heterogeneity that may mediate the relation between poverty and brain development is the built environment, or children's constructed physical setting (Bringolf-Isler et al., 2010). The built environmental context interacts with the relation between poverty and memory, for example, as detriments in specific areas of working memory differed between those who experienced poverty in rural versus urban areas (Tine, 2014). ...
Almost one in three children globally live in households lacking basic necessities, and 356 million of these children were living in extreme poverty as of 2017. Disasters such as the COVID-19 pandemic further increase rates of child poverty due to widespread job and income loss and economic insecurity among families. Poverty leads to unequal distribution of power and resources, which impacts the economic, material, environmental and psychosocial conditions in which children live. There is evidence that poverty is associated with adverse child health and developmental outcomes in the short term, as well as increased risk of chronic diseases and mental illnesses over the life course. Over the past decade, advances in genomic and epigenomic research have helped elucidate molecular mechanisms that could in part be responsible for these long-term effects. Here, we review evidence suggestive of biological embedding of early life poverty in three, interacting physiological systems that are potential contributors to the increased risk of disease: the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis, the brain, and the immune system. We also review interventions that have been developed to both eliminate childhood poverty and alleviate its impact on pediatric development and health. Pertinently, studies estimate that the costs of child poverty, calculated by increased healthcare expenditures and loss of productivity, are immense. We argue that investing in child development by reducing child poverty has the potential to improve the health and well-being at the population level, which would go a long way towards benefiting the economy and promoting a more just society by helping all individuals reach their full potential.
... For this more general category of outdoor play, positive correlates on neighborhood level included presence of sidewalks, presence of traffic-safety-related features (e.g., pedestrian crossings, traffic lights, speed bumps, parallel parking spaces, grouped parking lots, home zones, and roundabouts) [35], presence of green spaces [36,37], having a yard near home to play in [38], and presence of cul-de-sacs in the neighborhood [36]. In contrast, the presence of intersections, street lighting, the greater number of formal outdoor play facilities [35], and GIS-derived main street density in a 100-m buffer around a child's home in more urbanized areas [29], were found to be negatively related to children's outdoor play. In addition to these neighborhood features, housing characteristics also showed significant impacts on children's outdoor play. ...
Children’s independent mobility (CIM) has declined dramatically in recent decades despite its benefits in facilitating childhood development, promoting physical activity, and combating the obesity epidemic. This US-based study examines the impacts of housing and neighborhood environments on two modes of CIM—home-based independent travel to non-school destinations and unsupervised outdoor play—while considering personal and social factors. A bilingual parent/guardian survey was distributed to public elementary schools in Austin, Texas, asking about children’s travel and play, housing and neighborhood environments, and personal and social factors. A Google Street View audit was conducted to capture additional housing-related information. Logistic regressions were used to predict CIM. For second to fifth graders (N = 525), less than two-thirds of the parents would allow children’s independent travel to non-school destinations (62%) and unsupervised outdoor play (57.9%), with the majority limited to a short distance (five-minute walk) and a few destinations (e.g., friend’s/relative’s home). Stranger danger was a negative predictor and the presence of friend’s/relative’s home was a positive predictor for both modes of CIM. Quality of neighborhood environment was another positive correlate for independent travel to non-school destinations. Significant personal and social factors were also identified. Study findings demonstrated the impacts of physical environments on CIM and the potential of using relevant interventions to promote children’s health and development.
... • Parental beliefs about safety of physical activity-related activities and their neighbourhood were shown to be important for outdoor play [88,98], leisure [86,99], and organized physical activity [99]. • Parental attitudes toward physical activity have been shown to be associated with youth's physical activity; children of parents who believe physical activity is important are more likely to engage in organized [99,100] and leisure [99,101] physical activities. ...
Background:
Children and youth who meet the physical activity, sedentary, and sleep behaviour recommendations in the Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines are more likely to have desirable physical and psychosocial health outcomes. Yet, few children and youth actually meet the recommendations. The family is a key source of influence that can affect lifestyle behaviours. The purpose of this paper is to describe the process used to develop the Consensus Statement on the Role of the Family in the Physical Activity, Sedentary, and Sleep Behaviours of Children and Youth (0-17 years) and present, explain, substantiate, and discuss the final Consensus Statement.
Methods:
The development of the Consensus Statement included the establishment of a multidisciplinary Expert Panel, completion of six reviews (three literature, two scoping, one systematic review of reviews), custom data analyses of Statistics Canada's Canadian Health Measures Survey, integration of related research identified by Expert Panel members, a stakeholder consultation, establishment of consensus, and the development of a media, public relations, communications and launch plan.
Results:
Evidence from the literature reviews provided substantial support for the importance of family on children's movement behaviours and highlighted the importance of inclusion of the entire family system as a source of influence and promotion of healthy child and youth movement behaviours. The Expert Panel incorporated the collective evidence from all reviews, the custom analyses, other related research identified, and stakeholder survey feedback, to develop a conceptual model and arrive at the Consensus Statement: Families can support children and youth in achieving healthy physical activity, sedentary and sleep behaviours by encouraging, facilitating, modelling, setting expectations and engaging in healthy movement behaviours with them. Other sources of influence are important (e.g., child care, school, health care, community, governments) and can support families in this pursuit.
Conclusion:
Family is important for the support and promotion of healthy movement behaviours of children and youth. This Consensus Statement serves as a comprehensive, credible, and current synopsis of related evidence, recommendations, and resources for multiple stakeholders.
... Kinder und Jugendliche verbringen zunehmend mehr Zeit im Haus als draußen, sei es aus elterlicher Sorge um die Gefahren des Verkehrs (Bringolf-Isler, Grize, Ruch, Sennhauser, & Braun-Fahrländer, 2010;Prezza, Alparone, Cristallo, & Secchiano, 2005) oder auf Grund eines gesteigerten Medienkonsums (Charles & Louv, 2009). Hinzu kommt die Vorstellung, dass "richtige" Naturbegegnungen nur in weiter Distanz vom Wohnort gemacht werden können (Fraser et al., 2010). ...
The loss of biodiversity is a global threat and, despite widespread agreement on the ur-gency of action, the loss is progressing. The protection and conservation of biodiversity is therefore regarded as one of the most urgent environmental tasks, but this cannot be done without the involvement of the public. However, especially in highly industrialized countries perception and knowledge of species is low. In consequence, people may not be able to recognize the ongoing loss of biodiversity. Little is known about the extent and quality of species education in primary schools in Switzerland and the promotion of spe-cies knowledge by families and others. In the present research project, four complemen-tary studies were carried out to investigate how familiar primary-school students in the Canton of Berne are with local plant and animal species and how knowledge of species develops.
For the first time, pictures of a large number of species (69 plant and 67 animal species) were presented to 241 primary-school students in the Canton of Berne and their 14 teach-ers. Participants were asked to indicate whether they felt familiar with the species pre-sented and, if so, to identify the organisms by their common name. Moreover, data about students' age, gender, place of living, and nature experiences were collected. Guided in-terviews were used to investigate how students learn about species, what characteristics they look at when identifying plants and animals, and for how important they consider species knowledge to be. Overall, 47 of the 241 primary-school students participated in this part of the project. Five years later, 22 of the original 241 students were asked again about their species knowledge and its general relevance.
There was a positive correlation between the correct naming of plant and animal species among both students and their teachers. Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), forest straw-berry (Fragaria vesca), raspberry (Rubus idaeus), great nettle (Urtica dioica) and horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum) were the most often correctly named plant species, while red fox (Vulpes vulpes), hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus), dwarf bat (Pipistrellus pipistrellus), hare (Lepus europaeus) and wild boar (Sus scrofa) were the most often cor-rectly named animal species. With increasing age of the children, species knowledge de-creased. Boys could correctly identify more animal species than the girls. Children who spoke neither German nor Swiss-German with their parents at home, and children who investigated nature, plants and animals, and typical features of organisms mainly at school, had the lowest knowledge of species. The presence of trees and a garden, the re-
sponsibility for living creatures, and the naming of local plants and animals by adults fostered species knowledge. Teachers could identify more plants and animals than their students. The older and thus more experienced they were, the more species they could correctly name. However, there was no significant correlation between the number of plant and animal species correctly identified by the teachers and that of their students.
When children became acquainted with plants, they mainly remembered sensual experi-ences such as unpleasant encounters with stinging nettles, but also the preparation of meals. In case of animals, they especially mentioned observations that they had made alone or with other people. Parents and grandparents helped more than school or the me-dia in getting to know species. There was a positive correlation between children's knowledge of species and the number of characteristics they used when describing a plant or an animal. In case of plants, children paid particular attention to stems, hairs, leaves or fruits and less to flowers. Determination aids for children should thus place more emphasis on vegetative than generative parts of plants. Compared to plants, chil-dren mentioned more features when describing animals. However, scientifically im-portant characteristics, such as the three-part nature of the insect body, were not part of the children's descriptions.
In both the first study and the follow-up five years later, most children considered spe-cies knowledge important. They wanted to know local species as they regarded it as part of their general education and as useful. About three-quarters of students in the follow-up survey knew more plant and animal species than five years before, which is probably due to their personal interest.
The results show that children's attention to characteristics of plants and animals is close-ly linked to their knowledge of species and thus to the perception of diversity in nature. The family environment is very important for getting to know species. If this is not the case, schools must take on this task more intensively in order to contribute to an under-standing of biological diversity. The imparting of organismic knowledge in pre-service and in-service teacher education plays thus an important role.
... This was also shown in studies in healthy Swiss school children. 34 Also, Swiss school children from the Frenchcompared to the German-speaking regions were less likely to play outside and to actively commute to school 37,38 and PA behavior was not associated with sociodemographic and neighborhood factors. 39 This indicates that the language spoken is a marker of underlying cultural factors that influence PA behavior. ...
Background:
Physical activity (PA) can reduce the risk of chronic adverse health conditions in childhood cancer survivors. We examined PA and sedentary screen time behavior in a nationwide study in Switzerland.
Procedures:
The Swiss Childhood Cancer Survivor Study sent questionnaires to parents of all Swiss resident ≥5-year survivors diagnosed between 1995 and 2010. We assessed PA including compulsory school sport, recreational sport, commuting to school, and time spent with screen media in those aged 5-15 years, and compared results with international recommendations.
Results:
We included 766 survivors with a median age at diagnosis of 2.8 (interquartile range 1.4-5.0) years and a median age at study of 12.5 (10.0-14.3) years. Median PA time was 7.3 (4.8-10.0) h/week and median screen time was 82 (45-120) min/day. Compulsory school sport hours and walking or cycling to school contributed significantly to total PA. Note that 55% of survivors met PA and 68% screen time recommendations. PA was lower for children living in regions of Switzerland speaking French or Italian compared to German, and for those who had a relapse or musculoskeletal/neurological conditions. Screen time was higher in males, children with lower parental education, and a migration background.
Conclusions:
PA and sedentary screen watching were associated with social factors, and PA also with clinical risk factors. Structural preventions that afford active commuting to school and sufficient school sport are essential, as is counseling vulnerable survivor groups such as those with musculoskeletal and neurological problems, and those who have had a relapse.
... The importance of a balanced, healthy diet from conception and throughout life on epigenetic modifications is an incredibly robust finding, as are similar results for morbidity and mortality (e.g., Anderson et al. 2012;Gabbianelli and Damiani 2018;Lillycrop and Burdge 2012;Mathers 2006;Milagro et al. 2013;Navarro et al. 2017;Zhang 2015). Along similar lines, the structure of a socially administrated physical environment can also be linked to differences in children's physical activity (Bringolf-Isler et al. 2010;Davison and Lawson 2006;Galvez et al. 2010;Sallis and Glanz 2006). Physical activity is often linked to morbidity and mortality, as well as epigenetic modifications, learning, and aging (e.g., Kaliman et al. 2011;Kashimoto et al. 2016;Kirchner et al. 2013;Ling and Rönn 2014;Mikkelsen et al. 2017;Moylan et al. 2013;Rodrigues et al. 2015;Zimmer et al. 2016). ...
Our social environment, from the microscopic to the macro-social, affects us for the entirety of our lives. One integral line of research to examine how interpersonal and societal environments can get “under the skin” is through the lens of epigenetics. Epigenetic mechanisms are adaptations made to our genome in response to our environment which include tags placed on and removed from the DNA itself to how our DNA is packaged, affecting how our genes are read, transcribed, and interact. These tags are affected by social environments and can persist over time; this may aid us in responding to experiences and exposures, both the enriched and the disadvantageous. From memory formation to immune function, the experience-dependent plasticity of epigenetic modifications to micro- and macro-social environments may contribute to the process of learning from comfort, pain, and stress to better survive in whatever circumstances life has in store.
... Several studies have also shown that densely populated areas are associated with higher levels of physical activity [23,24] and outdoor activity [25] compared to less populated areas. However, other studies examining these associations did not report the same results [26][27][28]. ...
Background:
A rapidly growing body of research suggests that qualities of the built environment can promote active living among children and youth. Nevertheless, shortcomings in the current evidence for understanding which built environment characteristics provide opportunities for taking part in activities in childhood remain. This study aimed to examine whether population density, green spaces, and facilities/amenities are associated with participation in leisure-time physical activity (PA), organized activities, and social activities with friends and peers in Norwegian 8-year-olds.
Methods:
Data from a sample of 23,043 children from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) were linked with geospatial data about the built environment. The questionnaire data reported by mothers provided information on the children's leisure activities. We computed exposure to neighborhood population density and access to green spaces and facilities/amenities within 800- and 5000-m radii of the participants' home addresses using geographic information systems. Associations were estimated using logistic regression models.
Results:
We found beneficial associations between having a park within 800-m and more leisure-time PA during the summer. Furthermore, children living in neighborhoods with higher proportions of green space participated in more PA during the winter. More densely populated areas and access to facilities were associated with participation in organized and social activities. Specifically, we observed that more playgrounds/sport fields in the neighborhood were the strongest and most consistent correlate of activity participation in Norwegian 8-year-olds by being related to more socialization with friends and peers.
Conclusion:
This population-based study underscores the importance of access to a variety of venues and opportunities for different activities in the immediate neighborhood surroundings and in the greater community to support participation in physical activity and organized and social activities in childhood.
... Besides, harsh weather (exposure to the sun, rain and snow), dangerous play equipment as well as messy and dirty play are also included (Carver et. al., 2010;Bringolf-Isler et al, 2010;Valentine & McKendrck, 1997). For the teachers, it is better to respond to the parents' fear and provide a safe and precautionary indoor play for children rather than to give into speculations about possible legal action (Davis, 1998). ...
Children are the future guardian of the Earth. Environmental Education (EE) at preschool level is crucial for instilling environmental stewardship. This paper discusses how preschool designs can be manipulated to facilitate and enhance the EE implementation. In summary, it is suggested that preschool settings should be designed to maximise children’s interaction with nature. It not only helps to optimise children’s development and literacy but also contributes to the prediction of their intentions to appreciate and to protect the environment. Findings are useful for Malaysian policy makers and designers in designing preschools that are sustainable and support EE.Keywords: Malaysian preschool; green preschool design; children environmental behavior; environmental education.eISSN 2398-4295 © 2018. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open-access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.21834/ajbes.v3i13.150
... While dead ends, an indicator for low transit traffic and often used as meeting/play areas, were associated with less SBT in urban children, this was not true for non-urban ones. This is consistent with a previous study, showing that the main street density was significantly associated with time spent playing outdoors in areas with a medium to high population density but not in those with a low one [58]. It seems that children living in urban areas are more dependent on having play areas included in land use planning, whereas unhindered access to play areas seems to be more common in rural areas. ...
... While dead ends, an indicator for low transit traffic and often used as meeting/play areas, were associated with less SBT in urban children, this was not true for non-urban ones. This is consistent with a previous study, showing that the main street density was significantly associated with time spent playing outdoors in areas with a medium to high population density but not in those with a low one [58]. It seems that children living in urban areas are more dependent on having play areas included in land use planning, whereas unhindered access to play areas seems to be more common in rural areas. ...
Identifying correlates of sedentary behaviour across all levels of the ecological model and understanding their interrelations is a promising method to plan effective interventions. The present study examined whether the objectively assessed and the perceived neighbourhood are associated with children’s sedentary behaviour time (SBT). A comprehensive set of factors at different levels of influence across the ecological model were taken into account and analysed for mediating and modifying effects. Analyses were based on 1306 children and adolescents (6–16 years) participating in the population-based SOPHYA-study. Accelerometers were used to assess SBT, the perceived environment was examined by a validated parental questionnaire, and objective environmental data were allocated using GIS (ArcMap 10.2, Esri, Redlands, CA, USA) for each family’s residential address. A high perceived safety was associated with less SBT. Boys, those whose residential neighbourhood was characterized by dead ends in urban areas, a low main street density in the neighbourhood of children and greenness were less likely to exhibit SBT. The association of the objective environment with the respective parental perceptions was low and no significant mediating effect was found for the perceived environment. We conclude for land-use planning to reduce sedentary behaviour objective environments should be complemented with efforts to increase parental sense of security.
... These determinants are especially prominent in the urbanized, industrialized western societies upon which most of the referenced literature is based. In particular, the inhibitory influence on deliberate play of parental safety fears (e.g., traffic, crime, drugs, injuries) and risk aversion tendencies has been highlighted by a number of studies (Bringolf-Isler, Grize, Mäder, Ruch, Sennhauser, & Braun-Fahrländer, 2010;Lester & Russell, 2008;Veitch, Bagley, Ball, & Salmon, 2006). Parents are often afraid (sometimes justifiably) to let their children play in the relatively unsupervised, mobile manner necessary for true deliberate play. ...
... Carroll, Witten, and Kearns (2011) remarked that as a result of the increasing number of families who prefer dwelling in apartments in bigger cities compared to the detached houses in smaller towns where the traffic is less dense, children are less likely to have access to public open spaces in nature in the bigger cities. Another reason seems to be the safety concerns such as fear of abduction and injury risks so that parents or caregivers tend to force their children play indoors or in structured playgrounds under adult supervision (Bringolf-Isler et al., 2010;O'Brien, 2009;Ridgers et al., 2012;Wridt, 2004). Thus, a better understanding of parental influences on children's outdoor play and connection to the nature may guide the future policies targeting children's connection with nature. ...
The purpose of the current study was to examine the associations between child characteristics (i.e. gender, age, enjoying outdoor) and familial characteristics (i.e. parent education and income), and Turkish children’s biophilia (innate tendency to connect with nature). In addition, the current study also attempted to examine the association between the biophilia and the parent-reported importance of nature and outdoor. A total of 238 children (129 girls) aged 49 months to 80 months (M= 67.50, SD = 6.83) and parents were recruited for the current study in Turkey. Path analyses showed that parents’ importance of children’s outdoor and nature connection was significant predictor of children’s biophilia. In addition, child biophilia and parent education significantly predicted importance of being in nature. Children’s biophilia and importance of nature and outdoor activities differed depending on parent education level, favouring higher education levels. Implications of the study are discussed.
... In a study with 4,746 adolescents, from a population-based study about eating patterns and weight concerns among teenagers in the United States, greater parental concern was associated with steroid use, which was also associated with poorer self-esteem and higher rates of depressed mood and attempted suicide (Irving et al., 2002) Parental concerns associated to controlling parenting, and restrictions, influence negatively the development of social competences and independence in children. Parental concerns were related to low social competences in transplant children (Törnqvist et al., 1999), to changes in sleep arrangements caused by parental separation anxiety in children with epilepsy (Williams et al., 2000), and to less time playing outdoors in primary school children (Bringolf-Isler et al., 2010), which in turn may indirectly influence overweight and obesity, among children (Timperio et al., 2005). Another study suggests that parents that were concerned about their children's activity level provided a less supportive environment for physical activity, and therefore, their children were less active than those of parents that were not concerned (Jackson et al., 2008). ...
Background: The evaluation of parental concerns is considered of extreme importance in clinical practice, confirmed by current research. However, criteria for the definition of parental concerns are not standardized, and reflect different levels of analysis. The purpose of this study was to build a descriptive literature base of the current research on parental concerns. Methods: An extensive search was conducted using MEDLINE, ERIC, PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES, Academic Search Complete, Education Research Complete, PEP Archive, and Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection databases. The key words used were parental concerns. Criteria for inclusion were: peer-reviewed publications, parental concerns’ assessment, issue of interest for general parenting. Results: A total of 4130 publications were abstracted and reviewed, 128 were selected for inclusion. Themes from these papers were identified and were grouped according to seven main outcome categories: Parental concerns’ definition, parental concerns’ determinants, parental concerns predictive of children’s problems, parental concerns predictive of parental behaviour, parental concerns’ outcomes, parental concerns’ influence on healthcare professionals, and parental concerns and intervention strategies. Conclusions: Evidence demonstrated that parental concerns are an expected and positive aspect of parenting. They influence parental behaviour and thus promote positive outcomes in children. Parental concerns presented high sensitivity regarding children’s problems, being considered as effective as formal testing. General parental concerns, the factors that influence them and the related outcomes should be considered in future studies. Further research should also address the development of standardized instruments for the assessment of general parental concerns.
... The vast majority of parents are dissatisfied with the public provision of play facilities in their neighborhoods and especially worry about safety (Valentine and Mckendrick, 1997), age appropriateness, and accessibility (Chen, 2013). Parents' perceptions and objectively measured environmental factors significantly influence the time spent playing outdoors (Bringolf-Isler et al., 2010). ...
Purpose
Preschoolers and their inter-generational parents are the main users of modern urban residential outdoor space. To design and build appropriate outdoor space, it is necessary to understand the two groups’ psychological and behavioral needs in depth. The paper aims to discuss this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
By means of literature reviews, field surveys, questionnaires, and interviews, this study addresses the psychological, behavioral, neighborhood conversation, and space use characteristics of preschoolers and their inter-generational parents in the residential quarters of Haidian District in Beijing. This paper investigates the safety, interests, micro-climate appropriateness, supporting accompanying behavior, and promoting neighborhood conversation as the design strategies for residential outdoor space.
Findings
The findings suggest that children’s wills are dominant in choosing activity space, while the duration of stay is decided by inter-generational parents; appropriateness for children’s use is the most significant indicator for evaluating satisfaction of outdoor space; safety is the first rule in outdoor space design; and the design of details in outdoor space and facilities needs to be strengthened.
Research limitations/implications
Some preliminary conclusions have been concluded in this research while some deficiencies still exist. For example, quantitative research method and data processing method need to be deepened and studied continually in the following research; also, the research defines the investigation elements based on literature reading and individual field research, which remains to be verified and deepened in the future.
Practical implications
This research paid attention to usage experience in residential quarters so as to get rid of the pursuit of beauty in form in the planning and design strategies for residential quarters, proper care for youth and seniors, promote community vitality, enhance the shared living environment, and promote community association. This research can arouse the attention to children and the elderly in subsequent residential quarters and urban research. It is a very important field to study the behavior characteristics of children and the elderly and then study the urban space that is suitable for them.
Social implications
Planning and design strategies for residential quarters should be explored from the perspectives of the correlated group of preschoolers and their inter-generational parents – the group of people who most frequently use residential outdoor space. This research paid attention to usage experience in residential quarters so as to get rid of the pursuit of beauty in form in the planning and design strategies for residential quarters, proper care for youth and seniors, promote community vitality, enhance the shared living environment, and promote community association. This research can arouse the attention to children and the elderly in subsequent residential quarters and urban research.
Originality/value
This research is of great significance, in caring the young and the old, building up communities’ vitality, enhancing living environment, and promoting community association, to explore planning and design strategies for residential quarters from the perspective of the correlated group of preschoolers and inter-generational parents and the group of people who uses the residential quarters’ space most frequently.
... Bringolf-Isler et al. found a significant relationship between parental perceptions of neighborhood safety and their willingness to allow their children to play outside. 5 A study conducted by Romero et al. showed a positive relationship between perceived neighborhood hazards and physical activities, but only in high SES subjects. 26 Three other studies conducted in various subgroups, however, showed no significant relationship between perceived neighborhood safety and physical activity. ...
The relationship between perceived neighborhood contentedness and physical activity was evaluated in the Add Health study population. Wave I includes 20,745 respondents (collected between 1994 and 1995) and wave II includes 14,738 (71 %) of these same students (collected in 1996). Multinomial logistic regression was used to evaluate this relationship in both wave I and wave II of the sample. Higher levels of Perceived Neighborhood Contentedness were associated with higher reports of physical activity in both males and females and in both waves. For every one-point increment in PNS, males were 1.3 times as likely to report being highly physically active than low (95 % CI 1.23-1.37) in wave 1 and 1.25 times as likely in wave 2 (95 % CI 1.17-1.33). Females were 1.17 (95 % CI 1.12-1.22) times as likely to report being highly active than low and 1.22 times as likely in wave 2 (95 % CI 1.17-1.27) with every one-point increment. PNC appears to be significantly associated with physical activity in adolescents. Involving the community in the development of intervention programs could help to raise the contentedness of adolescents in these communities.
Background:
Neighborhoods are one setting to promote children's physical activity. This study examined associations between neighborhood features and children's physical activity and whether season or socioeconomic status modified these associations.
Methods:
Parents (n = 641) of children aged 6-10 years completed the Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale-Abbreviated. Walkability was objectively measured at 400, 800, and 1200 m around the centroid of participants' postal codes. Children's physical activity was measured via StepsCount pedometers and parental report. Regression analyses were performed with interaction terms for season and socioeconomic status. Multiple imputation was used primarily to triangulate the results for children with missing steps data (n = 192).
Results:
Higher perceived residential density and traffic hazards were significantly associated with lower squareroot transformed parental-reported physical activity and steps per day, respectively. Higher perceived aesthetics was associated with higher squareroot transformed parental-reported physical activity. Socioeconomic status modified 2 associations though they were not significant upon stratification. During winter months, better perceived infrastructure and safety for walking was associated with higher squareroot transformed parental-reported physical activity. No other significant associations emerged.
Conclusion:
Residential density, traffic hazards, and aesthetics are important for children's physical activity. Few associations were modified by socioeconomic status or season. The need for objective and subjective measures of the neighborhood environment and children's physical activity is apparent.
Emerging evidence indicates that the built environment influences early child development. Access to, and the quality of, built environment features vary with the socioeconomic status (SES) of neighbourhoods. It has not yet been established whether the association between built environment features and early child development varies by neighbourhood SES. We sought to identify built environment features associated with neighbourhood-level variations in the early child development domains of physical health and wellbeing, social competence, and emotional maturity, and how these associations differ among high and low SES neighbourhoods where child development patterns follow expected outcomes (“on-diagonal” neighbourhoods) and where child development patterns differ from expected outcomes (“off-diagonal” neighbourhoods). This cross-sectional study analysed data from the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) for children residing in 3839 neighbourhoods in the Perth and Peel metropolitan areas of Western Australia. Children's AEDC scores were aggregated at the area-level and merged with Geographic Information Systems derived measures of neighbourhood residential density, parks, walkability, community facilities and public transport. Multivariate logistic regressions modelled the odds of low and high SES neighbourhoods having a higher proportion of children developmentally “on-track” (scores in the 26th to 100th percentile of the AEDC) or “not on-track” (scores in the bottom 25th percentile of the AEDC) for each built environment feature. In high SES neighbourhoods, better development across all three domains was associated with greater residential density and improved access to parks, public transport, learning, childcare and health services. Conversely, in low SES neighbourhoods, greater residential density was associated with better physical, but poorer social and emotional development; increased traffic and street connectivity were associated with poorer physical and emotional development; shorter distances to parks, learning, childcare and health services were associated with poorer physical and emotional development; and more services and public transport stops were associated with poorer emotional development. The mixed findings in low SES neighbourhoods suggest that positive associations with built environment features seen in one domain of early child development may be negative in other domains. The reasons for the mixed findings in low SES neighbourhoods are likely multifactorial and may include parental neighbourhood perceptions, as well as quality and usage of built environment features. These findings can be used to inform state and local governments to establish child-friendly town planning and urban design features. Further research is needed to confirm the interplay between SES, early child development, the built environment and other unmeasured factors to better inform public health policy.
This systematic review discusses 25 recent studies (from 2000 to 2019, 13 quantitative and 12 qualitative) on the associations between neighbourhood characteristics and outdoor play of children (7–14 years old). Both physical and social contexts are shown to influence outdoor play, though studies differ on which elements matter most. Play‐friendly environments with informal and safe opportunities are more stimulating than formal playgrounds. Moreover, parents' social safety concerns limit children's independent outdoor play. Investigation of moderating factors is limited to age and gender differences and offers inconclusive evidence. Further research should collect evidence from both parents' and children's perspectives on how and for whom neighbourhood features matter.
Parental perceptions and use of neighborhood facilities are important factors that are related to children’s dietary intake and physical activity. The aim of this study was to examine the association between neighborhood deprivation index, parents’ perceptions of their neighborhood environment, and healthy/unhealthy markers of child dietary intake, physical activity, and TV screen time. This cross-sectional study was conducted in Dublin, Ireland. The lifestyle behaviors among children and parental perceptions of their neighborhood environment were reported by the parents of 276 children aged 3–5 years by using parent-completed questionnaires. Deprivation index was assessed using the geographic information system (GIS). Data were analyzed using binary logistic regression, adjusting for socio-demographic confounders. In adjusted models, high deprivation index was associated with parental perception of the neighborhood as unsafe for walking and cycling due to crime (OR 1.59, 95% CI 1.04–2.43, p = 0.031) and children’s low engagement in structured physical activity (OR 0.35, 95% CI 0.17–0.72, p = 0.004). Parental perceptions of an unsafe neighborhood due to heavy traffic were negatively correlated with children’s active play (OR 0.73, 95% CI 0.55–0.95, p = 0.022). Children whose parents reported high satisfaction with the number of local sit-in and takeaway restaurants were 41% more likely to consume confectionary/sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs) weekly. In this age group, parents play an important role in children’s lifestyle behaviors; therefore, a better understanding of parents’ perceptions and their use of neighborhood facilities could contribute to creating a healthy environment for this age group.
Context:
Daily outdoor play is encouraged by the American Academy of Pediatrics. Existing evidence is unclear on the independent effect of nature exposures on child health.
Objective:
We systematically evaluated evidence regarding the relationship between nature contact and children's health.
Data sources:
The database search was conducted by using PubMed, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, PsychInfo, ERIC, Scopus, and Web of Science in February 2021.
Study selection:
We followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. In all searches, the first element included nature terms; the second included child health outcome terms.
Data extraction:
Of the 10 940 studies identified, 296 were included. Study quality and risk of bias were assessed.
Results:
The strongest evidence for type of nature exposure was residential green space studies (n = 147, 50%). The strongest evidence for the beneficial health effects of nature was for physical activity (n = 108, 32%) and cognitive, behavioral, or mental health (n = 85, 25%). Physical activity was objectively measured in 55% of studies, and 41% of the cognitive, behavioral, or mental health studies were experimental in design.
Limitations:
Types of nature exposures and health outcomes and behaviors were heterogenous. Risk of selection bias was moderate to high for all studies. Most studies were cross-sectional (n = 204, 69%), limiting our ability to assess causality.
Conclusions:
Current literature supports a positive relationship between nature contact and children's health, especially for physical activity and mental health, both public health priorities. The evidence supports pediatricians in advocating for equitable nature contact for children in places where they live, play, and learn.
Context:
Sedentary lifestyle is spreading among children living in urban settings. Recent studies in urban health investigated the effects of built environment on children's physical activity, focusing on the concept of "walkability", an index of how much an area is conducive to walking and active transportation. We decided to browse the literature in order to review all possible tools and methods by which walkability has been evaluated and measured.
Methods:
We conducted a qualitative review of the literature in agreement with PRISMA guidelines, searching three medical databases for papers published between January 1994 and July 2017. Inclusion criteria were: primary studies, population ≤18 years and exposure variable as an assessment of walkability or built environment.
Results:
We retrieved 1,702 articles and included 195 of them in the final review. Most of the studies were cross-sectional (n=188, 96.4%). We identified two possible approaches and four main tools to address walkability measurement. A subjective method approach was used in 71 studies (36.4%), an objective method in 87 (44.6%). Only 37 studies (19.0%) used both. Main tools were survey (n=70, 35.9%), Geographic Information System (GIS) (n=64, 32.8%), street audits (n=11, 5.6%) and Walk-score™ (n=3, 1.5%). Forty-six studies (23.4%) used mixed methods. Environmental variables' assessment and definition was found to vary greatly by method of choice.
Conclusions:
We found a high degree of heterogeneity regarding methods and measurements of walkability. A standard approach regarding tools and environmental variables' choice and definition will be advisable in order to allow comparisons among studies. Also, more longitudinal studies are needed.
En el marco de la contingencia sanitaria por Covid-19, y como parte de las acciones planificadas en Mesa Técnica interministerial para la Educación Física, Actividad Física y
Deporte Escolar en pandemia, se desarrolló la Guía de Actividad Física en Familia durante
Confinamiento (AFF-C), a través de conformación de una comisión de trabajo, constituida
por académicos e investigadores expertos y reconocidos a nivel nacional e internacional en el ámbito de la educación y las ciencias de la actividad física y el deporte.
Objetivo:
La Guía de Actividad Física en Familia durante Confinamiento (AFF-C), tiene como objetivo, “Promover la práctica de la actividad física familiar centrada en el bienestar integral, a través de contenidos que orientan, recomiendan y potencian la adquisición de hábitos de vida saludable desde el núcleo familiar, en el contexto de restricción de movimiento secundario a la pandemia por Covid-19”.
Objective:
The objective of this review was to identify, evaluate, and synthesize the findings on built-environment determinants and their relation to participation in different domains of activities, including physical activity, recreational and social activities, and wellbeing in childhood and adolescence.
Introduction:
Creating supportive environments for children and adolescents is a priority in society. To ensure informed decision making and policy changes, initiatives need to rely on systematic development and the use of evidence-based knowledge. Thus, it is necessary to critically review the current evidence on the relations between features of the built environment and health in a more specific and detailed manner to better understand the health-promoting potential of neighborhood built environments.
Inclusion criteria:
This review included studies on children and adolescents aged between five and 18 years, which examined relations between one or several neighborhood built-environment determinants and participation in activities and/or wellbeing. The studies had to report test statistics for associations between built-environment determinants and the outcomes, which means that descriptive cross-sectional studies were not eligible for inclusion.
Methods:
A four-step search strategy was utilized to identify peer-reviewed studies within six databases. The search was limited to English articles published since January 2010. A data extraction form was developed and used to mine the descriptive details of each included study. The included studies were further assessed for methodological quality by three reviewer pairs independently, using the standard critical appraisal tools from JBI. Due to the methodological heterogeneity of the included studies, a narrative summary of the quantitative findings was conducted.
Results:
The 127 studies included in the review were mainly cross-sectional (87.4%). The built environment was most extensively studied in relation to the outcomes active travel (n = 54) and unspecified physical activity (n = 46). The evidence suggests that a composite determinant of facilities and amenities is related to more unspecified physical activity. Furthermore, less traffic exposure and more safety features, pedestrian infrastructure for walking and cycling, shorter distances to facilities and greater walkability supported active travel behavior. Fewer studies (n = 11) examined the built-environment determinants of organized sports and well-being, and limited, as well as contradictory, evidence existed for the relation between the built environment and wellbeing.
Conclusion:
The following determinants potentially support active travel behavior: less traffic exposure and more safety features, pedestrian infrastructure for walking and cycling, shorter distances to facilities and greater walkability. A high facility and amenity index might promote unspecified physical activity. Policies and planning processes should consider these determinants to strengthen children's and adolescents' health and wellbeing. However, there are remaining research gaps and important avenues for future research that need to be addressed before more specific and robust conclusions can be drawn.
The purpose of this study is to investigate the environmental factors relating to children's outdoor play and to assess how the residential neighborhood is suitable for play in the perception of parents. Based on a citywide survey of 500 parents of elementary school students in grades 1-4 in Seoul, this empirical study shows that children's outdoor play environments in residential neighborhoods of Seoul have been observed to be overall unsuitable for play activity. Three physical environmental factors (spatial availability, neighborhood attractiveness, and street difficulties) and three social environmental factors (fear of crime, social interactions, and psychological comfort) are related to children's play activity. Five factors, with the exception of the psychological comfort factor, impact the suitability of children's outdoor play environment. Specifically, it is the physical environment, rather than the social environment, that was deemed unsuitable in spite of its impacts. These findings help us understand the current conditions of neighborhood play environments associated with children's play activity. It is necessary to improve parents' perceptions of the play environment and children's play activities by improving the physical environment.
Background:
Sociodemographic and environmental factors play important roles in determining both indoor and outdoor play activities in children.
Methods:
The Built Environment and Active Play Study assessed neighborhood playability for children (7-12 y), based on parental report of their children's active play behaviors, neighborhood characteristics, and geographic locations. Simple logistic regression modeling tested the associations between sociodemographic characteristics and the frequency of and access to venues for indoor and outdoor play.
Results:
Children of higher socioeconomic status were almost 3 times more likely to live more than a 30-minute walk from indoor recreational facilities compared with their less affluent peers (odds ratio [OR] = 2.9; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.2-6.8). Non-Hispanic black children were less likely to live more than 30 minutes from indoor facilities (OR = 0.21; 95% CI, 0.08-0.57) and more were likely to engage in indoor activity (OR = 3.40; 95% CI, 1.17-9.88) than were white children. Boys were substantially more likely to play outdoors at a playing fields compared with girls (OR = 5.37; 95% CI, 2.10-13.69).
Conclusions:
Findings from this study could be used to enhance indoor and outdoor activity spaces for children and to reduce disparities in access to such spaces.
Although play activity is essential for children, opportunities for play is decreasing due to changes in life patterns. Urban neighbourhoods should be part of the provision of space where children can play freely and should help children play as part of their daily routine. This study analysed the elementary school neighbourhood environment features influencing the play activity of children. Study results showed that traffic safety, crime safety, walking environment, and community consciousness influenced the activity of children. It was also found that children tended to play adventurously, such as climbing up to a high position on a handrail or jungle gym and walking atop high places. This study will help to promote the play activity of children through improving an elementary school neighbourhood environment by focusing on the features that affect children’s play activity.
A number of review studies document associations between the perceived and objectively measured neighborhood environment and physical activity. However, current evidence does not discern whether perceived or objective variables more consistently predict physical activity. A review is needed to examine the comparability of these variables and the consistency of their respective associations with the same physical activity outcome. We systematically searched three databases for studies that examined agreement between perceived and objective measures and/or associations between comparable variables and physical activity. We abstracted 85 relevant peer-reviewed studies published between 1990 and 2015, synthesized agreement coefficients, and compared these variables’ associations with physical activity. Perceived neighborhood environment variables were significantly associated with physical activity (p < .05) at slightly higher rates than objective neighborhood environment variables (20.1% and 13.7%). Comparably defined variables exhibited low agreement and only 8.2% were associated with the same outcome. The perceived neighborhood environment and objectively measured neighborhood environment are related but distinct constructs that account for unique variance in physical activity.
The annual distance walked by children has fallen 28% since 1972, partly because car travel has replaced walking on many school journeys. Increasing car use has been linked with obesity, adverse health effects in later life, limitations on children's independence, traffic congestion, and pollution. To inform the development of strategies to reduce school related car travel, we surveyed the travel patterns of urban primary school children. Methods and results The survey was conducted in the inner London boroughs of Camden and Islington. The questionnaire—based partly on published surveys and prepared in English, Bengali, Turkish, Greek, and Cantonese (first languages of 85% of eligible pupils)—asked about that day's school journey, children's independent travel, and parental concerns. From the sampling frame of all primary schools (excluding pilot, boarding, and special schools), 31 of the 100 eligible schools were randomly selected. We weighted sampling probability by combined class sizes in year 2 (ages 6-7 years) and year 5 (ages 9-10). Questionnaires, with a letter from the head teacher and a multilingual request form for translation, were distributed to pupils for completion at home. Questionnaires were left for absentees. One week later, we collected completed questionnaires, gave new questionnaires to non-respondents, and distributed requested translations. All pupils were given pencil cases. We used logistic regression, including a random effect (school) to account for cluster sampling, to estimate odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for determinants of car travel versus walking. We excluded pupils who used public transport. Thirty schools (97%) agreed to participate. Of 2476 enrolled children, 2086 (84%) returned usable questionnaires: 96% English, 2% Bengali, 1% Turkish, and 1% English and Bengali (duplicate versions returned). Response rates were highest in independent schools (96%) and lowest in local authority schools (81%). Excluding independent schools, for which the information was unavailable, the respondents' ethnic distribution (54% white, 18% black, 14% Asian, and 15% other) was similar to that of the school population (50% white, 18% black, 15% Asian, 17% other). Comment Distance to school and car ownership were principal determinants of car travel. After adjustment for these factors, children at independent schools were still more likely to travel by car. Parental fear about “stranger danger” also influenced the decision to drive children to school. Although few translated questionnaires were requested, the study population adequately represented the ethnic distribution of children attending school in the two boroughs. Our results might appropriately be generalisable to other urban primary school populations. Increasing emphasis on school choice has been accompanied by a 20% increase in average distance travelled to school. Policies that encourage children to attend nearby schools are likely to reduce car travel and increase walking. Parents who currently drive their children might forgo the car for safe, convenient alternatives that address their fears. Unless such alternatives are developed, parents who do not currently drive to school are likely to do so when the option becomes available. KW: SR2S Language: en
Given the importance of physical activity for health and age-related declines in physical activity, understanding influences on related behaviours, such as time outdoors, is crucial. This study aimed to understand individual, social and physical environmental influences on longitudinal changes in urban children's time outdoors.
The time children spent outdoors in 2001, 2004 and 2006 (aged 5-6 and 10-12 years at baseline) was reported by their parents (n=421). In 2001, individual, social and physical environmental factors were self-reported by parents. Generalized estimating equations examined longitudinal relationships between baseline predictors and average change in time outdoors over 5 years.
Children's time outdoors significantly declined over time. "Indoor tendencies" inversely predicted time outdoors among younger and older boys, and younger girls. Social opportunities positively predicted time outdoors among younger boys, while "outdoor tendencies" positively predicted time outdoors among older boys. Parental encouragement for activity positively predicted time outdoors among younger and older girls, while lack of adult supervision for active play outdoors after school inversely predicted time outdoors among older girls and older boys.
Individual (indoor and outdoor tendencies) and social factors (social opportunities, parental encouragement and parental supervision) predicted children's time outdoors over 5 years. Interventions targeting reduced indoor tendencies, increased outdoor play with others, and increased parental encouragement and supervision are warranted.
Appropriately measuring habitual physical activity (PA) in children is a major challenge. Questionnaires and accelerometers are the most widely used instruments but both have well-known limitations. The aims of this study were to determine activity type/mode and to quantify intensity and duration of children's everyday PA by combining information of a time activity diary with accelerometer measurements and to assess differences by gender and age.
School children (n = 189) aged 6/7 years, 9/10 years and 13/14 years wore accelerometers during one week in winter 2004 and one in summer 2005. Simultaneously, they completed a newly developed time-activity diary during 4 days per week recording different activities performed during each 15 min interval. For each specific activity, the mean intensity (accelerometer counts/min), mean duration per day (min/d) and proportion of involved children were calculated using linear regression models.
For the full range of activities, boys accumulated more mean counts/min than girls. Adolescents spent more time in high intensity sports activities than younger children (p < 0.001) but this increase was compensated by a reduction in time spent playing vigorously (p = 0.04). In addition, adolescents spent significantly more time in sedentary activities (p < 0.001) and accumulated less counts/min during these activities than younger children (p = 0.007). Among moderate to vigorous activities, children spent most time with vigorous play (43 min/day) and active transportation (56 min/day).
The combination of accelerometers and time activity diaries provides insight into age and gender related differences in PA. This information is warranted to efficiently guide and evaluate PA promotion.
This study sought to integrate perceived and built environmental and individual factors into the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) model to better understand adolescents' physical activity.
Participants (n = 110) aged 12 to 17 years (M = 14.6 +/- 1.55) were recruited from two large metropolitan high schools in Auckland, New Zealand, were included in the analysis. Participants completed measures of the revised TPB and the perceived environment. Individual factors such as ethnicity and level of deprivation were also collected. Geographical Information Systems (GIS) software was used to measure the physical environment (walkability, access to physical activity facilities). Physical activity was assessed using the ActiGraph accelerometer and the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Adolescents (PAQ-A). Data from the various sources were combined to develop an integrated model integrated for statistical analysis using structural equation modeling.
The TPB model variables (intention and perceived behavioral control) explained 43% of the variance of PAQ-A. Unique and individual contributions were made by intention and PBC and home ownership of home equipment. The model explained 13% of time spent in moderate and vigorous physical activity (Actigraph). Unique and individual contribution was made by intention.
Social cognitive variables were better predictors of both subjective and objective physical activity compared to perceived environmental and built environment factors. Implications of these findings are discussed.
Research in transportation, urban design, and planning has examined associations between physical environment variables and individuals' walking and cycling for transport. Constructs, methods, and findings from these fields can be applied by physical activity and health researchers to improve understanding of environmental influences on physical activity. In this review, neighborhood environment characteristics proposed to be relevant to walking/cycling for transport are defined, including population density, connectivity, and land use mix. Neighborhood comparison and correlational studies with nonmotorized transport outcomes are considered, with evidence suggesting that residents from communities with higher density, greater connectivity, and more land use mix report higher rates of walking/cycling for utilitarian purposes than low-density, poorly connected, and single land use neighborhoods. Environmental variables appear to add to variance accounted for beyond sociodemographic predictors of walking/cycling for transport. Implications of the transportation literature for physical activity and related research are outlined. Future research directions are detailed for physical activity research to further examine the impact of neighborhood and other physical environment factors on physical activity and the potential interactive effects of psychosocial and environmental variables. The transportation, urban design, and planning literatures provide a valuable starting point for multidisciplinary research on environmental contributions to physical activity levels in the population.
Previous studies have shown poor correlation between subjective assessments of neighborhood safety and physical activity. This study was performed to model relationships between adolescents' outdoor physical activity and objectively measured violent crime densities, along with other key environmental variables.
Participants' physical activity was measured using a validated questionnaire. Multiple regression analysis was performed using outdoor physical activity away from school (OPA) as the dependent variable. Environmental factors included the density of violent crime within 1/2 mi of each participant's home, distance to nearest open play space, per capita income, and participants' subjective assessment of neighborhood safety.
Multiple regression analysis showed that distance to nearest open play space was inversely and significantly associated with boys' OPA, while density of violent crime within 1/2 mi of home was inversely and significantly associated with girls' OPA. Girls' perceptions that their neighborhood was safe for physical activity were also associated with higher levels of OPA, while boys' assessments of neighborhood safety were not significantly related to OPA.
Neighborhood violent crime may be a significant environmental barrier to outdoor physical activity for urban dwelling Mexican-American adolescent girls. Future studies of physical activity and the environment should use objective measures of environmental factors.
African-American girls are at increased risk for becoming overweight. Increased physical activity may prevent this. This study examines measurements of girls' physical activity and associations with: BMI, parent's reported self-efficacy and support for helping daughters be active, girl's perceived support from parents for physical activity, parent's and girl's perceived neighborhood safety and access to facilities, and family environment.
Fifty-two 8- to 10-year-old African-American girls and their primary caregiver in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area participated in the Girls Health Enrichment Multisite Studies pilot intervention to prevent weight gain by promoting healthy eating and physical activity. Data collected included height, weight, physical activity level, and physical activity-related psychosocial measures from girl and parent. Girls wore an activity monitor for 3 days to assess activity level. Correlations were computed among the average minutes per day of moderate to vigorous activity between 12 pm and 6 pm and BMI and psychosocial measures.
BMI was inversely correlated with moderate to vigorous activity (r = -0.35, p < 0.01), whereas parent's self-efficacy for supporting daughter to be active was positively correlated with activity (r = 0.45, p < 0.001). There was a trend for parent's reported support of daughter's activity level to be associated with activity (r = 0.26, p < 0.06). Girl's perception of parent's support for physical activity, perceived neighborhood safety and access to facilities, and family environment were not associated with girl's activity levels.
Interventions to increase physical activity among preadolescent African-American girls may benefit from a parental component to encourage support and self-efficacy for daughters' physical activity.
Many youth today are physically inactive. Recent attention linking the physical or built environment to physical activity in adults suggests an investigation into the relationship between the built environment and physical activity in children could guide appropriate intervention strategies.
Thirty three quantitative studies that assessed associations between the physical environment (perceived or objectively measured) and physical activity among children (ages 3 to 18-years) and fulfilled selection criteria were reviewed. Findings were categorized and discussed according to three dimensions of the physical environment including recreational infrastructure, transport infrastructure, and local conditions.
Results across the various studies showed that children's participation in physical activity is positively associated with publicly provided recreational infrastructure (access to recreational facilities and schools) and transport infrastructure (presence of sidewalks and controlled intersections, access to destinations and public transportation). At the same time, transport infrastructure (number of roads to cross and traffic density/speed) and local conditions (crime, area deprivation) are negatively associated with children's participation in physical activity.
Results highlight links between the physical environment and children's physical activity. Additional research using a transdisciplinary approach and assessing moderating and mediating variables is necessary to appropriately inform policy efforts.
We investigated whether the Kidskin sun protection intervention increased children's body mass index by reducing the time spent outdoors at midday.
The Kidskin sun protection intervention involved 1614 Australian school children assigned to 1 of 3 groups: a control group, a moderate-intervention group, or a high-intervention group. Schools in the control group received the standard health curriculum and schools in the intervention groups received a multicomponent intervention. Outcomes included time spent outdoors and nevus development (a marker of melanoma risk). Height and weight were measured at 3 time points. Body mass index was transformed into age- and gender-specific z scores; z scores at each age were modeled simultaneously. Time spent outdoors at ages 10 and 12 years was analyzed using a linear mixed effects modeling.
The proportion of children who were overweight or obese increased with age. The moderate-intervention and control groups had a minimal increase in z score over time, and the z score for the high-intervention group decreased over time. There were no differences among groups with respect to total time outdoors at any age.
It is possible to reduce the time children spend outdoors when ultraviolet radiation is high without producing an unfavorable effect on the children's body mass index.
Better understanding of the correlates of physical activity and sedentary behaviors in youth will support the development of effective interventions that promote a physically active lifestyle and prevent a sedentary lifestyle. The main goal of this systematic review is to summarize and update the existing literature on correlates of young people's physical activity, insufficient physical activity, and sedentary behavior.
A systematic review was conducted and included studies published between January 1999 and January 2005.
The 60 reviewed studies showed that for children (age range 4-12), gender (male), self-efficacy, parental physical activity (for boys), and parent support were positively associated with physical activity. For adolescents (age range 13-18), positive associations with physical activity were found for gender (male), parental education, attitude, self-efficacy, goal orientation/motivation, physical education/school sports, family influences, and friend support. For adolescents, a positive association was found between gender (male) and sedentary behavior, whereas an inverse association was found between gender and insufficient physical activity. Ethnicity (Caucasian), socioeconomic status, and parent education were found to be inversely associated with adolescents' sedentary behaviors. For children, the evidence was insufficient to draw conclusions about correlates of insufficient physical activity and sedentary behavior.
To gain more insight in the correlates of change in physical activity levels, more prospective studies are needed. Moreover, further research is needed examining the correlates of insufficient physical activity and sedentary behaviors, to develop effective interventions that may help children and adolescents diminish the time they spend on inactive behaviors.
Many youth fail to meet the recommended guidelines for physical activity. Walking and cycling, forms of active travel, have the potential to contribute significantly towards overall physical activity levels. Recent research examining the associations between physical activity and the environment has shown that environmental factors play a role in determining behaviour in children and adolescents. However, links between the environment and active travel have received less attention.
Twenty four studies were identified which examined the associations between the environment (perceived or objectively measured) and active travel among youth aged 5-18 years. Findings were categorised according to the location of the environmental measure examined; attributes of the neighbourhood, destination and the route between home and destination.
Results from the reviewed studies indicated that youth active travel is positively associated with social interactions, facilities to assist active travel and urban form in the neighbourhood as well as shorter route length and road safety en-route. A conceptual framework is presented which highlights the associations between active travel behaviours and environmental factors, drawing upon both existing and hypothesised relationships.
We provide a review of the available literature and present a novel theoretical framework that integrates the environment into the wider decision making process around travel choices for children and adolescents. Further work should explore associations where gaps in understanding have been identified, and account for the main moderators of behaviour so hypothesised associations can be confirmed.
Correlates of physical activity were examined in young people in grades 1 through 12, and analyses were conducted separately for eight age/grade and sex subgroups. Twenty-one explanatory variables were assessed by parental report. Physical activity was assessed in 781 young people via parent report, and 200 wore an accelerometer for seven days. Between 11% and 36% of parent-reported child vigorous physical activity was explained. The most consistent correlates were peer support and use of afternoon time for active rather than sedentary recreation. Peer support was the only significant correlate of objectively monitored activity in multiple subgroups.
This study investigates the ability of children between 5 and 11 years to select safe places to cross the street. The children were presented with situations which were either extremely safe or manifestly dangerous and were asked to correctly identify these. In other cases, they were asked to choose for themselves routes across the road which they thought would be safe. The tasks were presented in various ways: by means of a table-top simulation on which traffic scenarios had been contrived; by means of photographs of road situations; and by taking the children to real-world sites in the streets near their schools. All the experiments showed a similar pattern of results. Five-and 7-year-olds exhibited very poor skill in identifying dangerous road-crossing sites. Their judgements relied exclusively on the visible presence of cars in the vicinity. Other factors such as blind summits, obscuring obstacles or complex junctions were never recognized as threatening situations. They also showed an unwillingness to make detours when planning their own routes, even where the direct route was manifestly dangerous. Nine-year-olds showed a higher level of ability and 11-year-olds showed quite good skill in these judgements. No sex differences were apparent. These results suggest that young children up to about 9 years must often be at considerable risk as they do not have the ability to recognize a location as dangerous, even if they know the mechanics of the Green Cross Code. The implications for road safety education are discussed.
Available studies of the built environment and the BMI of children and youth suggest a contemporaneous association with neighborhood greenness in neighborhoods with high population density. The current study tests whether greenness and residential density are independently associated with 2-year changes in the BMI of children and youth.
The sample included children and youth aged 3-16 years who lived at the same address for 24 consecutive months and received well-child care from a Marion County IN clinic network within the years 1996-2002 (n=3831). Multiple linear regression was used to examine associations among age- and gender-specific BMI z-scores in Year 2, residential density, and a satellite-derived measure of greenness, controlling for baseline BMI z-scores and other covariates. Logistic regression was used to model associations between an indicator of BMI z-score increase from baseline to Time 2 and the above-mentioned predictors.
Higher greenness was significantly associated with lower BMI z-scores at Time 2 regardless of residential density characteristics. Higher residential density was not associated with Time 2 BMI z-scores in models regardless of greenness. Higher greenness was also associated with lower odds of children's and youth's increasing their BMI z-scores over 2 years (OR=0.87; 95% CI=0.79, 0.97).
Greenness may present a target for environmental approaches to preventing child obesity. Children and youth living in greener neighborhoods had lower BMI z-scores at Time 2, presumably due to increased physical activity or time spent outdoors. Conceptualizations of walkability from adult studies, based solely on residential density, may not be relevant to children and youth in urban environments.
This study aimed to determine whether time spent outdoors was associated with objectively measured physical activity, body mass index (BMI) z-score and overweight in elementary-school aged children, cross-sectionally and prospectively over 3 years.
Three-year cohort study with data collected during 2001 and 2004. Nineteen randomly selected state elementary schools across Melbourne, Australia. One hundred and eighty eight 5-6-year-old and 360 10-12-year-old children. Baseline parent reports of children's time spent outdoors during warmer and cooler months, on weekdays and weekends. At baseline and follow-up, children's moderate and vigorous physical activity (MVPA) was objectively assessed by accelerometry, and BMI z-score and overweight was calculated from measured height and weight.
Cross-sectionally, each additional hour outdoors on weekdays and weekend days during the cooler months was associated with an extra 27 min week(-1) MVPA among older girls, and with an extra 20 min week(-1) MVPA among older boys. Longitudinally, more time outdoors on weekends predicted higher MVPA on weekends among older girls and boys (5 min week(-1)). The prevalence of overweight among older children at follow-up was 27-41% lower among those spending more time outdoors at baseline.
Encouraging 10-12-year-old children to spend more time outdoors may be an effective strategy for increasing physical activity and preventing increases in overweight and obesity. Intervention research investigating the effect of increasing time outdoors on children's physical activity and overweight is warranted.
This study investigates the ability of children between 5 and 11 years to select safe places to cross the street. The children were presented with situations which were either extremely safe or manifestly dangerous and were asked to correctly identify these. In other cases, they were asked to choose for themselves routes across the road which they thought would be safe. The tasks were presented in various ways: by means of a table-top simulation on which traffic scenarios had been contrived; by means of photographs of road situations; and by taking the children to real-world sites in the streets near their schools. All the experiments showed a similar pattern of results. Five- and 7-year-olds exhibited very poor skill in identifying dangerous road-crossing sites. Their judgments relied exclusively on the visible presence of cars in the vicinity. Other factors such as blind summits, obscuring obstacles or complex junctions were never recognized as threatening situations. They also showed an unwillingness to make detours when planning their own routes, even where the direct route was manifestly dangerous. Nine-year-olds showed a higher level of ability and 11-year-olds showed quite good skill in these judgements. No sex differences were apparent. These results suggest that young children up to about 9 years must often be at considerable risk as they do not have the ability to recognize a location as dangerous, even if they know the mechanics of the Green Cross Code. The implications for road safety education are discussed.
We develop an observation system that quantifies the duration, intensity, and frequency of children's physical activities. We use this system to assess the level and tempo of energy expenditure under free-ranging, natural conditions experienced by 15 children aged 6-10 yr in southern California. Observations were recorded every 3 s during 4-h time blocks from 8:00 a.m.-8:00 p.m. Agreement among observers using the coding system was 91%. Using indirect calorimetry, calibration studies in the laboratory determined VO2 (ml.min-1.min-1) during each coded activity, and activities were categorized by intensity (low, medium, or high). Subjects were found to engage in activities of low intensity 77.1% of time and activities of high intensity 3.1% of time. The median duration of low and medium intensity activities was 6 s, of high intensity activities only 3 s with 95% lasting less than 15 s. Children engaged in very short bursts of intense physical activity interspersed with varying intervals of low and moderate intensity. These findings may be important for discovering how children's activity patterns under natural conditions influence physiological processes leading to growth and development. This study demonstrates the advantages of using an observational system that captures more than the intensity and frequency of children's activities to include duration and the length of intervals between activities of varying intensity.
Twenty-two potential correlates of children's physical activity were examined. Two hundred and one Mexican-American and 146 Anglo-American families with 4-year-old children were studied. Children's physical activity was directly observed in the evening at home on 4 visits for 1 hr each time. Anglo-American children and male children were found to be more active. Demographic variables explained 11% of the variance in children's physical activity. After adjusting for demographics, 3 children's variables and 6 social-family variables did not account for significantly more variance. Five environmental variables accounted for 11% additional variance. Variables observed concurrently with physical activity, such as time spent outdoors and prompts to be active, were highly associated with children's physical activity.
This study examined associations between perceptions of the local neighborhood and walking and cycling among children.
Children aged 5-6 years (n=291) and 10-12 years (n=919) were recruited from 19 Australian primary schools. Parents reported their child's usual walking or cycling to local destinations and their perceptions of their neighborhood. Ten- to twelve-year-olds were asked their perceptions of traffic, strangers, road safety and sporting venues, and their perceptions of their parent's views on these issues.
Five- to six-year-old boys whose parents believed there was heavy traffic in their area were 2.8 times more likely (95%CI=1.1-6.8), and 5- to 6-year-old girls whose parents owned more than one car were 70% less likely (95%CI=0.1-0.8), and whose parents believed that public transport was limited in their area were 60% less likely (95%CI=0.2-0.9) than other children to walk or cycle at least three times per week. Parental belief that there were no lights or crossings was associated with walking or cycling among 10- to 12-year-old boys (OR=0.4, 95%CI=0.2-0.7). Among older girls, parent's belief that their child needed to cross several roads to reach play areas (OR=0.4, 95%CI=0.2-0.8) and that there is limited public transport in their area (OR=0.7, 95%CI=0.4-0.97), and child's belief that there were no parks or sports grounds near home (OR=0.5, 95%CI=0.3-0.8) were associated with a lower likelihood of walking or cycling.
Perceptions of the local neighborhood may influence children's physical activity.
Keeping young children physically active is an important strategy to promote their health and well-being. To our knowledge, survey measures of physical activity in preschool-aged children are unavailable. Time spent playing outdoors is a potential surrogate measure of physical activity in preschoolers, but parental-report measures of outdoor playtime have not been evaluated.
To compare a direct measure of physical activity in preschool-aged children with 2 parental-report measures of children's outdoor playtime.
Three days of recording with a 3-dimensional accelerometer were used to directly measure physical activity in 250 preschool-aged children. We calculated each child's average vector magnitude per minute while awake. Parental report of outdoor playtime was measured in 2 ways: (1). the score from a checklist used to record outdoor playtime over 3 days and (2). a recall of the usual minutes of daily outdoor playtime during the prior month. We calculated Spearman rank correlation coefficients among these 3 measures.
The mean age of the children was 44 months, 87.7% were white, and 12.3% were black. Parents reported that their children spent a mean (+/-SD) of 146 (+/-113) minutes playing outdoors each day. Physical activity as measured by the accelerometer was significantly correlated to the time spent playing outdoors, as measured by the checklist (r = 0.33, P <.001) and recall (r = 0.20, P =.003).
Parental-report measures of outdoor playtime were significantly correlated to a direct measure of physical activity in preschool-aged children, and are worthy of future evaluation as a survey measure.
To examine associations between parent and child perceptions of the local neighbourhood and overweight/obesity among children aged 5-6 and 10-12 y.
Cross-sectional survey.
In total, 291 families of 5-6-y-old and 919 families of 10-12-y-old children.
Parent's perceptions of local neighbourhood and perceived child access to eight local destinations within walking distance of home; 10-12-y-old children's perception of local neighbourhood; socio-demographic characteristics (survey). Children's height and weight (measured).
No perceptions of the local neighbourhood were associated with weight status among 5-6-y-old children. Among 10-12-y-old children, those whose parents agreed that there was heavy traffic in their local streets were more likely to be overweight or obese (OR=1.4, 95% CI=1.0-1.8), and those whose parents agreed that road safety was a concern were more likely to be obese (OR=3.9, 95% CI=1.0-15.2), compared to those whose parents disagreed with these statements.
This study suggests that parental perceptions of heavy traffic on local streets and concern about road safety may be indirect influences on overweight and obesity among 10-12-y-old children. Future work should also consider perceptions of the neighbourhood related to food choice.
Ecological models are now used to understand the complex array of factors that influence physical activity, resulting in a greater emphasis on environmental correlates. This selective review examines whether the predictive capacity of these models could be improved if behavior-specific measures of the environment were used to predict context-specific behaviors.
The obesity epidemic disproportionately affects minority and poor children. Negative perceptions of neighborhood safety in poor communities may affect overweight by inhibiting children's physical activity. This study investigates the degree to which parents in a poor inner city vs. a middle-class suburban community limit their children's outdoor activity because of neighborhood safety concerns.
Parents of children aged 5-10 years from an inner city family practice in a poor community and from a suburban pediatric practice in a middle-class community completed a 20-item questionnaire. Parents estimated the amount of their child's activity in various situations and indicated their level of anxiety concerning gangs, child aggression, crime, traffic, and personal safety in their neighborhood.
Inner city children (n = 204) engaged in less physical activity than suburban children (N = 103) (P < 0.001). Inner city parents expressed much greater anxiety about neighborhood safety than suburban parents (P < 0.0001). In the inner city population, children's physical activity levels were negatively correlated with parental anxiety about neighborhood safety (r = -0.18, P < 0.05).
Inner city parents have high levels of anxiety about neighborhood safety. While these concerns may not entirely explain the discrepancy in activity levels between inner city and suburban children, a safe environment is crucial to increasing opportunities for physical activity.
Examine associations among observed, self-reported, and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) environmental features and physical activity among adolescent males.
Cross-sectional study.
Boy Scout troops and neighborhoods in Houston, Texas.
Two hundred and ten 10- to 14-year-old Boy Scouts.
Accelerometry to obtain minutes of sedentary, light, and moderate to vigorous activity per day. GIS sources were used to identify the numbers of parks, gymnasiums, trails, bus stops, grocery stores, and restaurants within a 1-mile radius of participant residences as well as residential density, connectivity, and crime. Participants provided a self-report of their environment.
Principal component analysis was used to reduce the number of GIS and self-reported items. Four factors were previously obtained from direct observations of the neighborhoods. Correlations were conducted among factors and physical activity. Regression models were run in which minutes of sedentary behavior, light, or moderate to vigorous physical activity were the dependent variables and environmental factors were the independent variables. Nonsignificant variables were removed in a backward deletion process.
Three GIS factors, Parks, Crime, and Gyms, were obtained as were two self-reported factors: difficulty and access and safety. Factor scores were interrelated and associated with the four observed factors. Only observed sidewalk characteristics were correlated with physical activity and were retained in the regression models.
Environmental factors were interrelated. Only sidewalk characteristics were associated with sedentary behavior and light intensity physical activity.
Obesogenic environments are thought to underlie the increased obesity prevalence observed in youth during the past decades. Understanding the environmental factors that are associated with physical activity (PA) in youth is needed to better inform the development of effective intervention strategies attempting to halt the obesity epidemic. We conducted a systematic semi-quantitative review of 150 studies on environmental correlates of youth PA published in the past 25 years. The ANalysis Grid for Environments Linked to Obesity (ANGELO) framework was used to classify the environmental correlates studied. Most studies retrieved used cross-sectional designs and subjective measures of environmental factors and PA. Variables of the home and school environments were especially associated with children's PA. Most consistent positive correlates of PA were father's PA, time spent outdoors and school PA-related policies (in children), and support from significant others, mother's education level, family income, and non-vocational school attendance (in adolescents). Low crime incidence (in adolescents) was characteristic of the neighbourhood environment associated with higher PA. Convincing evidence of an important role for many other environmental factors was, however, not found. Further research should aim at longitudinal and intervention studies, and use more objective measures of PA and its potential (environmental) determinants.
To examine the association between children's physical activity and factors of the built environment.
Cross-sectional study. Setting. Ten neighborhoods in six cities in the Netherlands.
Four hundred twenty-two children (age range, 6-11 years; 49% male).
Physical activity diary, neighborhood observations, and anthropometric measures.
Univariate and multivariate linear regression analyses.
According to univariate analyses adjusted for age, sex, body mass index, and highest level of maternal education, physical activity (> or = 3 metabolic equivalents) was significantly (p < .05) associated with the proportion of green space, with the residential density, with the general impression of activity-friendliness of the neighborhood, and with the frequency of certain types of residences (e.g., terraced houses), sports fields, water, dog waste, heavy traffic, and safe walking and cycling conditions (e.g., cycle tracks and 30-km speed zones) in the neighborhood. According to adjusted multivariate analyses, physical activity was best predicted by the frequency of parallel parking spaces in the neighborhood and by the general impression of activity-friendliness of the neighborhood (I2 = 0. 193).
Children's physical activity is associated with certain modifiable factors of the built environment. Longitudinal studies should examine whether there is a causal relationship.